Two of the most underwhelming performers for the Edmonton Oilers in the 2025-26 season were Trent Frederic and Tristan Jarry.

General manager Stan Bowman traded for both, and extended Frederic to an eight-year contract last offseason, which hasn’t yet paid dividends. These two moves may be the biggest big swing and misses so far in his almost two year tenure as GM.

As Bowman admitted in his exit interview, the entire organization will be evaluated, including his own job and coach Kris Knoblauch’s after a disappointing year where the team seemed to lack cohesion and couldn’t generate momentum.

In over 100 games now as an Oiler, Frederic has scored a combined five goals and 11 points, regular season and playoffs. Thought to be a grinder built for the playoffs, he’s only shown brief flashes of the physical, power forward brand of hockey he was known for in Boston.

While Bowman said flat out that Frederic didn’t have a good year, he also thinks the Oilers didn’t help him succeed by not finding him a consistent place in the lineup.

A long-term ankle injury took some of Frederic’s speed out of his game upon his arrival in Edmonton in 2024-25. As this season progressed, Frederic’s game slowly seemed to improve, especially after the three-week Olympic break.

However, in the two most important games of the season, Game 5 and 6 against the Ducks, Frederic was a healthy scratch. That’s a tough pill for a player whom the organization has committed to longer than anyone else, besides Leon Draisaitl, with his $3.85 million annual contract going until 2033.

Frederic has a full no-move clause until the end of 2028-29, when it changes to a modified no-move.

Coach Kris Knoblauch was asked whether he still thinks there’s a player there.

“Absolutely,” said Knoblauch. “I believe that he’s got a role with this team. It’s got to change a little bit. Obviously I don’t see him playing on top line with Connor and Leon, but I do see him being a third, fourth line guy — energy, some physicality.” 

But out of training camp, Knoblauch said he was missing a step, perhaps to rehabbing that injury.

The most consequential in-season move by Bowman, and the position group with the most question marks long term is goaltending.

The season began with two pending free agent goalies in Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, with a clean slate and flexibility after 2025-26 finished to acquire a bonafide starting goaltender. The Oilers also acquired Connor Ingram on October 1 after a falling out in Utah, and a need for a reset after personal struggles. That was a contingency plan the team used to keep their season afloat.

On December 12, Bowman pulled the trigger on acquiring Tristan Jarry and AHLer Sam Poulin, for Skinner, Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round pick. For the assets given up, it’s already viewed as one of the worst in recent franchise history.

Jarry has two more years remaining on his current contract at a cap hit of $5.375 million, and is the lone goalie with term. Connor Ingram is a pending free agent, but Jarry’s struggles allowed him to seize the starting job.

In total, Jarry started 16 regular season games with the Oilers, going 9-6-2. His counting stats finished with a 3.86 goals against average and .858 save percentage, the lowest of the team’s four goalies. In Game 4, Jarry provided a good start, making 34 saves, but eventually losing 4-3 in overtime.

There were also rumblings of Jarry and teammates “getting into it” at practice that likely didn’t help.

Knoblauch was asked whether he’d like more consistency at that position, and whether that much goalie turnover made it difficult navigating.