Now that we’re well into the Edmonton Oilers’ offseason, I’ve been wondering what a successful summer looks like if you’re Trent Frederic. Gord knows we’ve got a long time to think about it.

You don’t have to say much other than it was an ugly first year in Edmonton for Freddy, and I think there are a lot of fine Nation Citizens around here who have already thrown in the towel. That’s not to say I blame them. His four goals and three assists in 74 games missed expectations by an international flight, let alone for a guy in the first year of an eight-year contract at $3.85 million per season. The fans were pissed, and rightfully so. But I also don’t think the frustration came from anyone expecting Frederic to be a 25-goal scorer, but when a player signs for an eternity, you want to see the guy do more than wind up as a healthy scratch in the playoffs. That seems fair to me.

Given that it’s highly unlikely Frederic will be on the move, I’m trying to figure out what our expectations should be for him going forward. Is he really only a fourth-line player? Can he be a guy who makes life miserable in the corners and around the crease? Is there more offence there than what we saw in year one? Can he have more than a shift or two where the puck doesn’t die on his stick? That’s what this summer has to be about for me. I don’t think Frederic needs to reinvent himself, but he absolutely needs to come into camp with a clearer identity than the one we saw in his first year in Edmonton. He can’t come into training camp starting on the first line with Connor and Leon, only to end up in the press box when the games matter most. He needs to find a role and embrace it.

The obviously frustrating part of the story is that Frederic has shown more than this before, which was exactly what we thought we were getting when Stan Bowman traded for him. In Boston, he had 17 goals and 31 points in 2022-23, then followed that up with 18 goals and 40 points the next season. I dream of those Freddy numbers. He was never going to be in the running for the Rocket Richard, but the Oilers didn’t need him to. A 15-goal, 30-point version of Trent Frederic would be a massive win around here, especially if the rest of his shifts came with chaos, gritensity, and the willingness to be all-world annoying to play against. The problem, of course, is that the Oilers didn’t get anything close to that player last season. Instead, they got an anchor that couldn’t find any consistency.

As for what a good season looks like, I don’t even know how to set the bar for him because the contract makes every quiet night feel louder than it probably should. Are we only happy if Frederic gets back into that 15-17 goal range he had in Boston, or can we live with him being a reliable bottom-six winger who brings some snarl, chips in goals here and there, and doesn’t leave us wondering why he’s even dressed? Based on what we saw last season, I’m thinking it’s probably the latter. I honestly don’t know if we’ll see him get close to 17 goals again, but if he can give me double-digit production, consistent physicality, more chaos, and fewer nights where you forget he’s in the lineup, then maybe it’ll be alright.

When you have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the charge, you don’t need Trent Frederic to be spectacular to be useful, but he does have to be noticeable more often and for the right reasons. Even if the goal scoring doesn’t come back, he needs to win more battles, grind players down in the offensive zone, get to the net, finish checks, and make his line feel like it’s more than just a placeholder for when the big dogs are on the bench. He didn’t do that nearly enough in 2025-26. We need to see more shifts where his line isn’t getting shelled or simply treading water until the top six can get back over the boards. The Oilers need more than that from a player they’re paying for nearly a decade. Again, I don’t think that’s unfair.

Even though only time will tell what we will or won’t get from Trent Frederic, I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that I hope he’s putting in the work this summer. That’s not to say that I doubt a professional athlete working hard, but we need to see the guy roll into town looking like a man on a mission. I don’t want to hear any “I’ll try my best” talk or that he’s in the best shape of his life, either. I want to see an animal out there. I want to see a dude with a chip on his shoulder who wants to prove everyone wrong about what he can or can’t be.

A good year for Frederic probably isn’t about living up to his contract because I’m not sure that’s realistic right now. If anything, his second year as an Oiler should be about making the contract less of a daily conversation. His goal shouldn’t be about proving he’s worth all that money, but giving whoever the coaching staff ends up being a reason to trust him, giving the fanbase a reason to buy into him as an Oiler, and giving everyone else something better to talk about than how long he’s still got left on his deal. And after the flushable season he just had, that would be a pretty meaningful step.

So what does a good year look like for Trent Frederic? For me, it’s probably around 12-14 goals, reliable bottom-six minutes, a truckload of hits, and way less nights where we don’t even hear his name on the broadcast. That may not sound like a huge ask for a player making nearly four million bucks a year, but unfortunately, this is where we’re at after year one. Frederic has a lot to prove, and while I’m not ready to sit here and pretend I’m Kool-Aid guzzling optimistic, I am curious to see whether a full offseason and having the worst year of his NHL career behind him can be the first step to getting him closer to the player the Oilers thought they were buying.

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