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How Stan Bowman’s early off-season moves sets up the Oilers
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Tyler Yaremchuk
Jul 4, 2026, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 4, 2026, 12:16 EDT
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Edmonton Oilers fans have been burned by false hope before around this time of year.
Remember the Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson day? We were all ready to anoint Jeff Jackson as the best GM in the league.
There have been plenty of other examples throughout the Connor McDavid era of this organization taking hard swings on July 1 and falling flat on their rear ends.
This time around, it does feel a bit different, though.
Of course, you could just call me a sucker for falling for the same trap that we all seem to fall for every summer, but this year’s moves by GM Stan Bowman don’t feel overly flashy — they just feel necessary.
He seemed to check a lot of things off his to-do list without having to act desperate and without killing the Oilers’ ability to continue to add going forward.
Let’s start with his pre-free-agency activity.
At first, there was some hesitancy around the Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy contracts, but after watching what players like Boone Jenner, Colton Sissons, Vincent Desharnais, and Jacob Trouba got, those deals suddenly look a lot better.
Keep in mind that as the years go on, these types of middle-of-the-lineup players are just going to get more and more expensive. What we saw this year was that the only players who made it to market were these mid-tier types, and when GMs have money, they want to spend it.
I really don’t think that will change going forward. I think we will see plenty of early extensions or sign-and-trades for the top players who are in contract years, and when it actually gets to July 1, the Dickinsons and Murphys of the world will get bigger and bigger contracts.
The moves that Bowman made before Canada Day look even better in hindsight.

How does the Devon Levi trade impact the Oilers’ goaltending depth?

Next up was the Devon Levi trade.
I do like the trade from the perspective that they gave up just a third-round pick to get a goalie who has some pretty solid underlying numbers in the AHL and has gotten a cup of coffee at the NHL level. 
It’s a solid bit of value considering that the Mammoth paid a first-round pick for Sebastien Cossa. He’s the better prospect, I won’t argue that, but Levi has similar upside.
I will admit that if this was the only deal that the team made to address their goaltending, I would have been a little nervous. The fact that they went out and got Freddie Andersen as well makes this a massive victory.
Bowman increased the ceiling of the Oilers’ goaltending by acquiring Levi, increased the floor by adding Andersen and still has the wild card of Tristan Jarry. All of that is on the cap next year for under $8 million. Really nice work.

Was trading Darnell Nurse the right move for Edmonton’s blue line?

The Darnell Nurse trade wasn’t quite as surprising as how Bowman was able to upgrade the crease, but it was still a very good piece of GM work.
Bowman had deals on the table from all three of Pittsburgh, Boston and Philadelphia but all three involved the Oilers either retaining money or taking back a sizable contract.
I think some GM’s might have just taken the best offer available ahead of July 1st so that they had some amount of wiggle room ahead of free agency.
I give Bowman full credit for being patient and waiting for Nurse to expand his list, knowing that this deal from the Sharks was on the table. 
Getting two prospects and clearing out Nurse’s entire $9.25 million, then replacing him on the left side with Ryan Shea for just $4 million, is another massive victory for Bowman.
Not necessarily a flashy move, but one that made this team’s blueline deeper and cheaper, giving him flexibility to make more moves down the line.

Why is the Kasperi Kapanen contract a win for Stan Bowman?

The Kasperi Kapanen deal was the final notable signing of the day and even that goes in the win column for Bowman.
My original projection for Kapanen was somewhere in the three-year, $3 million AAV range and I suspect the player also thought that he was going to get something similar to that based on the other deals that were handed out.
Bowman’s patience once again paid off. Instead of just finding middle ground ahead of July 1st, he let the player go to free agency and test the market. Bowman’s reward is getting a versatile player who can fit in anywhere in their top nine for under market value.
I’m giving Bowman a strong A- grade on his work so far this offseason.
He made this team better by improving their goaltending, kept their forward group intact, and got two young pieces in exchange for a contract that the bulk of the hockey world swore was unmovable a few weeks ago.
How can he get that grade higher? Go trade for an impact top-six piece.
They have the money to do it, but the market might ultimately dictate if they’re able to.
The good news for Bowman is that he has a really solid team in front of him and like with his other moves so far this summer, he can stay patient and wait for the right moment to pounce.

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