One of the talking points of the off-season has been whether new Edmonton Oilers head coach Mike Babcock will try to reduce minutes for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Spread the wealth, as it were, and help give role and depth players more ownership.

During a recent interview with Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer, general manager Stan Bowman was asked about the penalty kill, a sore spot for Edmonton a year ago. They finished 20th in the NHL at 77.8 per cent.

Bowman was asked whether they might reduce their best forwards’ time on the PK, or even their power-play time.

“At this point in August, I think it’s kind of silly to close doors on anything,” said Bowman. “I think it’s also really more of a coaching thing. I’m going to support Mike. DJ is going to run the kill, I think. It’s really, how do they want to run it?

“Our power play has been great. Our penalty kill has not, but in previous years it was good. Those things can change year to year. Just because we didn’t have a strong kill last year doesn’t mean that it’s not going to be strong this year.”

The attraction is that McDavid can pose a scary threat to opposition power plays when he’s on the ice shorthanded. Last season, he played the fourth-most PK minutes among Oilers forwards at a hair over 84 minutes at 4-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. Draisaitl, on the other hand, didn’t play nearly so much, just below 27 minutes.

Part of the hope in re-signing Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy is that they’ve thrived in penalty-killing roles in the past. They could help solidify the PK, as they did in Edmonton post-trade deadline.

However, that didn’t last in the playoffs, as the Oilers only went 50 per cent on the kill vs Anaheim. Too much of the Oilers’ PK success seemed to hinge on Adam Henrique, who obviously won’t be returning.

Mathieu Joseph is another free-agent signing who’s had experience in that role. But Bowman highlighted another addition on the blueline that fills that role, their biggest July 1 contract in Ryan Shea. He played the third-most minutes on the Penguins PK in 2025-26.

“Ryan Shea was a good penalty killer, too,” said Bowman. “Savoie was great last year, I think, on the PK. We have enough candidates there. I think who they want to use in what roles is up to them to figure out.

“I think the good news is like the coaches are actively reviewing all that. They’re putting a plan in place.”

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