Free agent signings rarely lead to a Stanley Cup victory, yet every year teams will overspend on a free agent and some media and fans will overhype a free agent signings. It is why it is called Free Agent Frenzy, because it creates equal amounts of excitement and frustration across the NHL.

<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2107" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="325"></div>
I feel patience and prudent spending is often the better plan. Avoid term as often as you can, especially on 28-30-year-old players who aren&#8217;t elite. The list of those players who signed seven year deals that didn&#8217;t work out is infinitely longer than the list who signed for seven years and gave their team good value on the contract.
This year many teams retained their top free agents.
Vancouver re-signed <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/pacific-division-notes-canucks-re-sign-boeser-and-demko-kings-add-two-former-oilers-and-more/">Brock Boeser </a>for seven years at $7.25m. <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/06/30/mhl-news-florida-panthers-re-sign-ekblad-marchand-vegas-golden-knights-acquire-marner/">Florida retained</a> Sam Bennett (8 x $8m), Aaron Ekblad (8 x $6.1m) and Brad Marchand (6 x $5.25m). The Panthers will go for a three-peat with essentially the same roster, except for Nate Schmidt, who signed in Utah. The Panthers had an incredible playoff run with eight skaters producing 18+ points. That will be incredibly difficult to recreate.
The only true UFA to make it to market and sign a long-term with a new team was Vladislav Gavrikov. He signed for 7 x $7m. The Rangers traded RFA K&#8217;Andre Miller to Carolina and the Canes signed him to 8 x $7.5m. Washington signed Martin Fehervary to 7 x $6m, Vancouver signed Connor Garland 6 x $6m, and Thatcher Demko for 3 x $8.5m and Carolina extended Logan for 8 x $6m.
The only other contract with an AAV of $7m was Mikael Granlund getting 3 x $7m with Anaheim. Vegas acquired Mitch Marner in a sign and trade with Toronto and got him at 8 x $12m. That was the biggest move of the day.
There were a few head scratchers <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-stand-pat-free-agency-right-call">with L.A. signing</a> Cody Ceci (4 x $4.5), Brian Dumoulin (3 x $4m) and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/corey-perry-signs-with-los-angeles-kings/">Corey Perry</a> getting $4m ($2m of that in bonuses) for one year from the Kings. Tanner Jeannot got 5 x $3.4 from Boston. Perry is only one year, so it won&#8217;t hurt long-term, but it is a lot for a 40 year old.
The Edmonton Oilers didn&#8217;t make a huge splash. They signed Andrew Mangiapane for two years at $3.6m AAV and this morning signed Curtis Lazar for one year at $775K. They also added goalie Matt Tompkins and defenceman Riley Stillman for organizational depth as both will likely start in the American League.
The <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/02/edmonton-oilers-thoughts-maintaining-cap-flexibility-after-july-1-success-stan-bowman/">cautious approach</a> by GM Stan Bowman won&#8217;t create headlines, and it won&#8217;t silence the questions around his goaltending, but I wrote prior to free agency that I expected the Oilers big moves would likely come near the trade deadline. Barring a trade later this summer, that seems to be the case, and I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a bad thing.
<hr />
<figure id="attachment_177941" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-177941" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-177941" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-1024x683.jpg" alt="Edmonton Oilers Andrew Mangiapane" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-300x200.jpg 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-768x512.jpg 768w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-2048x1366.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-177941" class="wp-caption-text">Mar 26, 2022; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames left wing Andrew Mangiapane (88) controls the puck against the Edmonton Oilers during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure>
<hr />
<h2>WHO IMPROVED IN THE WEST?</h2>
The Oilers spanked Dallas and Vegas and won their last four games over LA to go 12-4 in three rounds in the West Conference bracket of the Stanley Cup playoffs. While the Oilers didn&#8217;t make a big splash, did any of the top teams in the West drastically improve?
Vegas landed Marner, along with Colton Scissons and Jeremy Lauzon, but they lost Alex Pietrangelo and Nic Hague on the blueline. Vegas looks different, but are they clearly better? Pietrangelo averaged the most minutes/game on their blueline at 22:24 while Hague averaged 17:00/game. Lauzon would replace Hague, but now Zach Whitecloud will move into their top-four and Kaeden Korczak will be their other third pairing defender. It is a clear downgrade from Pietrangelo/Hague to Lauzon/Korczak. But Marner is a huge offensive boost. They will still be competitive.
The Kings spent a lot of money, but I don&#8217;t see Ceci, Dumoulin, Perry, Anton Forsberg and Joel Armia eating up almost $16m in AAV and another $2m in bonuses for Perry. Those are fourth line players and #4-6 defenders and a backup goalie. The Kings lost Gavrikov, and will want Brandt Clarke to play more, but I&#8217;m not sold that the Kings are really any better. They will need to improve from within.
Vancouver retaining Boesers was huge for them. They added Evander Kane and if Demko stays healthy they will be in the mix in the Pacific again, but are they noticeably better?
How about the Oilers? I like to look at a team&#8217;s regular season roster (up to the trade deadline) from last year and compare it to this year.
Here&#8217;s how the Oilers forward group played last season up to the deadline.
They had 10 forwards play 52 or more of their 59 games up to the deadline:
RNH-McDavid-Hyman 
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson 
Skinner-Henrique-Brown 
Kapanen (35GP) -Janmark-Perry
Those were the 12 most common forwards. Derek Ryan was the 13th forward playing 33 games while Noah Philp (12), Drake Caggiula (7) and Matt Savoie (3) also played a few games.
As of today the Oilers forwards look to be (these are not guaranteed line combos):
Henrique-McDavid-Hyman 
RNH-Draisaitl-Mangiapane 
Frederic-Tomasek-Savoie 
Podkolzin-Philp/Lazar/Janmark-Kapanen
They removed Arvidsson, Skinner, Brown, Perry and Ryan (combined for 38 goals) in exchange for <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/edmonton-oilers-sign-andrew-mangiapane-two-year-3-6-million-aav-contract/">Andrew Mangiapane</a>, Frederic, Tomasek, Savoie and Philp/Lazar. Can the new five players average 7.6 goals? Very likely.
<hr />
<figure id="attachment_172809" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-172809" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-172809" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-1024x835.jpg" alt="Edmonton Oilers Trent Frederic Los Angeles Kings" width="1024" height="835" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-1024x835.jpg 1024w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-300x245.jpg 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-768x626.jpg 768w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-1536x1252.jpg 1536w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-2048x1670.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-172809" class="wp-caption-text">Apr 5, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Trent Frederic (21) and Los Angeles Kings left wing Kevin Fiala (22) grapple in front of the Los Angeles Kings net during the first quarter at Crypto.com Arena.</figcaption></figure>
<hr />
The Oilers blue line looks better on paper than last season&#8217;s opening roster.
Edmonton used nine different D-men before the trade deadline. Brett Kulak and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/02/evan-bouchard-four-year-extension-bargain-edmonton-oilers/">Evan Bouchard</a> played all 58 games, Mattias Ekholm (58), Ty Emberson (57) and Darnell Nurse (56) were the regulars. Troy Stecher played 46 games, while Travis Dermott (10) and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/san-jose-sharks-sign-former-edmonton-oilers-defenceman-john-klingberg/">John Klingberg</a> and Josh Brown each played eight.
This year the Oilers will start with Bouchard, Ekholm, Kulak, Nurse and Jake Walman and one of Troy Stecher, Ty Emberson or Alec Regula. They also have a wildcard in Atro Leppanen.
The top-five D with Walman is better than the top-five last year through 59 games.
The goalies look to be the same with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. Of the 50 NHL goalies who started 19 or more games up to the deadline, Skinner was 33rd in save percentage and Pickard was 36th, while Pickard was 22nd and Skinner 32nd in GAA. They had a combined record of 34-21-4.
The Oilers team save percentage was .897. They were eighth in GF/GP at 3.25 and 13th in GA/GP at 2.92. Their PP was seventh at 25.2 percent and the PK was 26th at 75 percent.
When I look at their roster, I see more skill on defence and their forward group is a bit quicker. The penalty kill must be better.
Ultimately I think the decisions at the trade deadline will have a big impact on their quest to win the Stanley Cup. Bowman will likely want to upgrade his second pair RD and they will have 3/4 of a season to find out what they need most upfront. A scoring winger? Some more size/grit in the bottom six. And the main question will be how do they look in goal. If the goalies are just average, I&#8217;d expect Bowman to add a new goalie.
Being patient with goalies isn&#8217;t the worst thing. Imagine if Florida had traded Bobrovsky in 2022 when they were rumoured to be trying, because he hadn&#8217;t played as well as they&#8217;d hoped. Skinner isn&#8217;t Bobrovsky, few are, but I believe the Oilers will make a change to their goalie coach, and that move combined with Skinner being a year older with more experience under his belt they believe he will continue to improve.
The regular season does matter. It allows you to make the playoffs, and it provides an opportunity for the Oilers to fine tune aspects of their game. Their penalty kill has to be better in the regular season, so they have a better chance for success in the playoffs. The Oilers made it to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, despite having the 348th ranked PK among 349 teams who played at least 10 playoff games in one season. It was terrible at 67.1 percent and played a big role in them losing to Florida as they allowed seven PP goals in the first four games, and often in the first period to put the Oilers in chase mode.
Edmonton did not have a flashy free agency, but I don&#8217;t think that is a bad thing. Their core is still intact, and Bowman will have time to evaluate his team.
I&#8217;ve found it perplexing how pundits and some fans  have talked about the Oilers since losing the Cup Final. It&#8217;s like they weren&#8217;t any good and have massive holes to fill. They lost in the Final after cruising to the Final. The Final was tied 2-2, before the Oilers got outplayed in the final two games.
The Oilers are very close. They don&#8217;t need a major overhaul. They need some tweaks, and I think the first 60 games of the regular season will provide Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch the opportunity to see where they need to upgrade at the deadline.
<hr />
<h2>ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365</h2>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="325" data-promotion-id="19111"></div>

Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman

Free agent signings rarely lead to a Stanley Cup victory, yet every year teams will overspend on a free agent and some media and fans will overhype a free agent signings. It is why it is called Free Agent Frenzy, because it creates equal amounts of excitement and frustration across the NHL.


<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2107" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="325"></div>
I feel patience and prudent spending is often the better plan. Avoid term as often as you can, especially on 28-30-year-old players who aren't elite. The list of those players who signed seven year deals that didn't work out is infinitely longer than the list who signed for seven years and gave their team good value on the contract.

This year many teams retained their top free agents.

Vancouver re-signed <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/pacific-division-notes-canucks-re-sign-boeser-and-demko-kings-add-two-former-oilers-and-more/">Brock Boeser </a>for seven years at $7.25m. <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/06/30/mhl-news-florida-panthers-re-sign-ekblad-marchand-vegas-golden-knights-acquire-marner/">Florida retained</a> Sam Bennett (8 x $8m), Aaron Ekblad (8 x $6.1m) and Brad Marchand (6 x $5.25m). The Panthers will go for a three-peat with essentially the same roster, except for Nate Schmidt, who signed in Utah. The Panthers had an incredible playoff run with eight skaters producing 18+ points. That will be incredibly difficult to recreate.

The only true UFA to make it to market and sign a long-term with a new team was Vladislav Gavrikov. He signed for 7 x $7m. The Rangers traded RFA K'Andre Miller to Carolina and the Canes signed him to 8 x $7.5m. Washington signed Martin Fehervary to 7 x $6m, Vancouver signed Connor Garland 6 x $6m, and Thatcher Demko for 3 x $8.5m and Carolina extended Logan for 8 x $6m.

The only other contract with an AAV of $7m was Mikael Granlund getting 3 x $7m with Anaheim. Vegas acquired Mitch Marner in a sign and trade with Toronto and got him at 8 x $12m. That was the biggest move of the day.

There were a few head scratchers <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-stand-pat-free-agency-right-call">with L.A. signing</a> Cody Ceci (4 x $4.5), Brian Dumoulin (3 x $4m) and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/corey-perry-signs-with-los-angeles-kings/">Corey Perry</a> getting $4m ($2m of that in bonuses) for one year from the Kings. Tanner Jeannot got 5 x $3.4 from Boston. Perry is only one year, so it won't hurt long-term, but it is a lot for a 40 year old.

The Edmonton Oilers didn't make a huge splash. They signed Andrew Mangiapane for two years at $3.6m AAV and this morning signed Curtis Lazar for one year at $775K. They also added goalie Matt Tompkins and defenceman Riley Stillman for organizational depth as both will likely start in the American League.

The <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/02/edmonton-oilers-thoughts-maintaining-cap-flexibility-after-july-1-success-stan-bowman/">cautious approach</a> by GM Stan Bowman won't create headlines, and it won't silence the questions around his goaltending, but I wrote prior to free agency that I expected the Oilers big moves would likely come near the trade deadline. Barring a trade later this summer, that seems to be the case, and I don't think it's a bad thing.

<hr />

[caption id="attachment_177941" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-177941" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/USATSI_17974142-1024x683.jpg" alt="Edmonton Oilers Andrew Mangiapane" width="1024" height="683" /> Mar 26, 2022; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames left wing Andrew Mangiapane (88) controls the puck against the Edmonton Oilers during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports[/caption]

<hr />

<h2>WHO IMPROVED IN THE WEST?</h2>
The Oilers spanked Dallas and Vegas and won their last four games over LA to go 12-4 in three rounds in the West Conference bracket of the Stanley Cup playoffs. While the Oilers didn't make a big splash, did any of the top teams in the West drastically improve?

Vegas landed Marner, along with Colton Scissons and Jeremy Lauzon, but they lost Alex Pietrangelo and Nic Hague on the blueline. Vegas looks different, but are they clearly better? Pietrangelo averaged the most minutes/game on their blueline at 22:24 while Hague averaged 17:00/game. Lauzon would replace Hague, but now Zach Whitecloud will move into their top-four and Kaeden Korczak will be their other third pairing defender. It is a clear downgrade from Pietrangelo/Hague to Lauzon/Korczak. But Marner is a huge offensive boost. They will still be competitive.

The Kings spent a lot of money, but I don't see Ceci, Dumoulin, Perry, Anton Forsberg and Joel Armia eating up almost $16m in AAV and another $2m in bonuses for Perry. Those are fourth line players and #4-6 defenders and a backup goalie. The Kings lost Gavrikov, and will want Brandt Clarke to play more, but I'm not sold that the Kings are really any better. They will need to improve from within.

Vancouver retaining Boesers was huge for them. They added Evander Kane and if Demko stays healthy they will be in the mix in the Pacific again, but are they noticeably better?

How about the Oilers? I like to look at a team's regular season roster (up to the trade deadline) from last year and compare it to this year.

Here's how the Oilers forward group played last season up to the deadline.

They had 10 forwards play 52 or more of their 59 games up to the deadline:

RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Skinner-Henrique-Brown
Kapanen (35GP) -Janmark-Perry

Those were the 12 most common forwards. Derek Ryan was the 13th forward playing 33 games while Noah Philp (12), Drake Caggiula (7) and Matt Savoie (3) also played a few games.

As of today the Oilers forwards look to be (these are not guaranteed line combos):

Henrique-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Mangiapane
Frederic-Tomasek-Savoie
Podkolzin-Philp/Lazar/Janmark-Kapanen

They removed Arvidsson, Skinner, Brown, Perry and Ryan (combined for 38 goals) in exchange for <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/edmonton-oilers-sign-andrew-mangiapane-two-year-3-6-million-aav-contract/">Andrew Mangiapane</a>, Frederic, Tomasek, Savoie and Philp/Lazar. Can the new five players average 7.6 goals? Very likely.

<hr />

[caption id="attachment_172809" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-172809" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25857856-1024x835.jpg" alt="Edmonton Oilers Trent Frederic Los Angeles Kings" width="1024" height="835" /> Apr 5, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Trent Frederic (21) and Los Angeles Kings left wing Kevin Fiala (22) grapple in front of the Los Angeles Kings net during the first quarter at Crypto.com Arena.[/caption]

<hr />

The Oilers blue line looks better on paper than last season's opening roster.

Edmonton used nine different D-men before the trade deadline. Brett Kulak and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/02/evan-bouchard-four-year-extension-bargain-edmonton-oilers/">Evan Bouchard</a> played all 58 games, Mattias Ekholm (58), Ty Emberson (57) and Darnell Nurse (56) were the regulars. Troy Stecher played 46 games, while Travis Dermott (10) and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/07/01/san-jose-sharks-sign-former-edmonton-oilers-defenceman-john-klingberg/">John Klingberg</a> and Josh Brown each played eight.

This year the Oilers will start with Bouchard, Ekholm, Kulak, Nurse and Jake Walman and one of Troy Stecher, Ty Emberson or Alec Regula. They also have a wildcard in Atro Leppanen.

The top-five D with Walman is better than the top-five last year through 59 games.

The goalies look to be the same with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. Of the 50 NHL goalies who started 19 or more games up to the deadline, Skinner was 33rd in save percentage and Pickard was 36th, while Pickard was 22nd and Skinner 32nd in GAA. They had a combined record of 34-21-4.

The Oilers team save percentage was .897. They were eighth in GF/GP at 3.25 and 13th in GA/GP at 2.92. Their PP was seventh at 25.2 percent and the PK was 26th at 75 percent.

When I look at their roster, I see more skill on defence and their forward group is a bit quicker. The penalty kill must be better.

Ultimately I think the decisions at the trade deadline will have a big impact on their quest to win the Stanley Cup. Bowman will likely want to upgrade his second pair RD and they will have 3/4 of a season to find out what they need most upfront. A scoring winger? Some more size/grit in the bottom six. And the main question will be how do they look in goal. If the goalies are just average, I'd expect Bowman to add a new goalie.

Being patient with goalies isn't the worst thing. Imagine if Florida had traded Bobrovsky in 2022 when they were rumoured to be trying, because he hadn't played as well as they'd hoped. Skinner isn't Bobrovsky, few are, but I believe the Oilers will make a change to their goalie coach, and that move combined with Skinner being a year older with more experience under his belt they believe he will continue to improve.

The regular season does matter. It allows you to make the playoffs, and it provides an opportunity for the Oilers to fine tune aspects of their game. Their penalty kill has to be better in the regular season, so they have a better chance for success in the playoffs. The Oilers made it to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, despite having the 348th ranked PK among 349 teams who played at least 10 playoff games in one season. It was terrible at 67.1 percent and played a big role in them losing to Florida as they allowed seven PP goals in the first four games, and often in the first period to put the Oilers in chase mode.

Edmonton did not have a flashy free agency, but I don't think that is a bad thing. Their core is still intact, and Bowman will have time to evaluate his team.

I've found it perplexing how pundits and some fans  have talked about the Oilers since losing the Cup Final. It's like they weren't any good and have massive holes to fill. They lost in the Final after cruising to the Final. The Final was tied 2-2, before the Oilers got outplayed in the final two games.

The Oilers are very close. They don't need a major overhaul. They need some tweaks, and I think the first 60 games of the regular season will provide Bowman and head coach Kris Knoblauch the opportunity to see where they need to upgrade at the deadline.

<hr />

<h2>ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365</h2>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="325" data-promotion-id="19111"></div>

Stan Bowman’s slow play approach to the Oilers Free Agency seems wise

Recent articles from Jason Gregor

Breaking News