Coming off a disappointing regular season and playoff run, I was really curious to see how the Edmonton Oilers would react and position themselves for success in 2026/27. A lot of extra time after an early exit from the playoffs, combined with everything happening elsewhere in the NHL market, was going to be a factor.

Would they double down on their current state, banking on their team’s high-end talent, support players, and coaching staff? Or would they actually do something drastic and address the pressing issues like scoring depth and goaltending? And what about the underlying, big picture, roster-construction issues the team finds itself constantly mired in? This team has a bit of a history of sub-optimal decision making under this owner, so you never really know what you’re going to get. And it’s the consistent misalignment between the general manager’s office and the coaching staff that makes things weird sometimes.

So the changes we have so far: a new coaching staff, a new goaltender group, new defencemen (including a new one for the top four), new depth players, and the removal of Nurse’s contract from the books. Pretty significant changes with a good amount of risk tied to it all, which is healthy. But it does raise a couple red flags.

One concern with these changes is that there doesn’t appear to be a big master plan or strategy that’s helping guide some pretty critical decisions. For example – hiring Babcock seemed a little clunky, and kind of reeks of desperation and panic. While it didn’t make sense to retain Knoblauch’s staff, there probably should have been a wider search to not only get the best coaching candidates but to also gather good intel from potential coaches on how they view Edmonton’s roster and previous tactics – and how they would and wouldn’t run the Oilers bench. That’s something the management team would push for, but it feels like they got overridden by the players. It’s unclear who actually initiated the hiring of Babcock and when – and more importantly, who’s going to be accountable if or when things go sideways. It’s fine if the players have a say in the hire, but do you really want to give them full autonomy of who gets to coach the team when they don’t even know what the management team’s long-term plans are for the roster? Again, just feels clunky and amateurish.

A few other thoughts:

• Starting to see some signs that the Oilers front office is being a little more proactive and innovative, especially in a league that’s really rewarding intelligent risk-takers. They’ve added smart people to the front office, especially on the data side, but it remains to be seen how much influence they’ll have on roster decisions. Seeing two teams in the finals this year who like making smart short and long-term bets and aren’t afraid to be a little ruthless should hopefully rub off on Edmonton. Safe is death.
• Babcock’s lack of success the last time he was employed – combined with him talking in the third person at his introductory media availability – doesn’t breed a lot of confidence. And I think it’s clear Edmonton is hedging their bet by adding a pretty capable associate coach in D.J. Smith. That could end up being a pretty important asset.
• It was good to hear Stan Bowman confirm that he was concerned about the amount and proportion of minutes McDavid and Draisaitl had been playing. The tendency to go back to their top players over and over again and not try anything new has historically aligned with how the Oilers, from top to bottom, operate. If Babcock figures out how to reduce their minutes without somehow sacrificing goals and wins, that’ll be massive and would indicate progress within the organization. The depth signings combined with the emergence of younger players is critical and will be closely monitored.
• One highlight this summer has been the goalie changes, especially with the addition of Frederik Andersen. Low risk, high potential, especially if he can stay healthy. I do like how the Oilers could balance his workload as needed, and it makes sense considering the Oilers’ travel schedule. I also like the diversification the Oilers have with Andersen, Jarry and Levi. Year over year, we see different teams have success with a different approach in net – some go with an older guy, some have a league-average goalie and some have a younger one who emerges after a solid AHL run. Why not have all three goalie types and see what shakes out.