3 Oilers Questions During the Summer Dead Zone

It’s late July, there’s not much going on around here, so I figured why not throw together three of the biggest questions I have when it comes to the Edmonton Oilers as we head into the 2026-27 season. The coaching staff is new, we have a goalie triangle, some cap space in our pocket, and the same old pressure to win the Stanley Cup. Has Stan Bowman done enough? Do we have any Jack Roslovic-like surprises coming? It might be the middle of summer, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still thinkin’ Oilers.

WILL THE COACHING GAMBLE PAY OFF?

Now that the noise has quieted about Mike Babcock being named Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 58th head coach, I’ve been thinking about the gamble the team is taking here. When the social media reaction was still white hot, one might have thought that the world was ending. Ignoring the fact that Babcock hasn’t won a playoff series in over a decade, there was the lingering stories out of Columbus that had him fired before he even started. You know the story, we don’t need to re-tell it for the 1000th time. But when it comes to the 2026-27 Edmonton Oilers, I think it’s fair to wonder what we’re going to get from a guy who kept saying that he was happily retired. I do think it’s fair to wonder what he’s going to bring to this team outside of the well-documented reputation. How it Mike Babcock going to get the Oilers two goals further than they were in June of 2024? Our new man hasn’t won much since the Apple Watch was invented, and I do think it’s fair to wonder if the old dog has any new tricks that are relevant with today’s flavour of hockey.

Just because he’s known to be a hard ass doesn’t mean that he’ll be yelling about the right things. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Mike Babcock turn this team into a killer, but we also don’t have many instances of that happening since the players he was coaching were even drafted. I’d love nothing more than for him to walk in and march this team to a Stanley Cup, but we’re not exactly talking about the 2008 Red Wings here. Even with the two best players on earth, there are holes in this roster. There aren’t Hall of Famers littered throughout the lineup. Of course, the same questions could be asked about any coach. No one knew Kris Knoblauch would coach the team to back-to-back finals until it happened. That’s why I’m holding out hope that Babcock can be The Answer, while also acknowledging the risks of bringing on a guy with a sizeable gap in the resume. Put another way, you can absolutely watch movies on your dad’s old DVD/VCR combo if you want, and it can absolutely be awesome, I’m just saying that there are better ways to do that in 2026.

WILL TRISTAN JARRY BOUNCE BACK OR BE REPLACED?

I know we’re getting into Kool-Aid season but I can’t help but think that some of us are writing Tristan Jarry off before we’ve ever seen what the Babcock-led Oilers will look like in front of him. The guy was having a solid run in Pittsburgh before the trade, and if we’re being honest, it’s not like the boys in blue and orange were exactly locked in defensively. Yes, Connor Ingram had better numbers with the same team, but I also think it’s fair to account for the human side of the equation when we look at the change from Pittsburgh to Edmonton. There was the trade. The injury. The gradual decline into a meme. I’m not saying it was pretty, I’m just saying he has a history of playing better than that. And if we all agree that the skaters in front of him need to be better in their own end, it also stands to reason that the goaltending will improve at the same time. Dare to dream? The good news is that even if Jarry can’t figure it out, the Oilers raised the floor on what their backup goalies are capable of.

Frederik Andersen is coming off a fantastic playoff performance that helped Carolina win the Stanley Cup, and he’s in town on a deal that pays him only $1 million for the season. Sure, there are bonuses attached to the back half of his deal, but most of them have to do with being the starter and winning playoff rounds. Those are dollars well spent if it happens. And with Devon Levi, you’ve got a 24-year-old who’s been knocking on the door for a minute now. There’s plenty of upside, just not many at-bats. We don’t know what we have in Levi yet, but he’s got the chance to come in and steal a job if he plays well enough. That’s a good problem to have despite the non-ideal circumstances of carrying three goalies for a while. My point is, as much as it’s going to be fascinating to see how the early season plays out with these three guys fighting for starts, I can’t imagine it will be long before someone gets shoved aside. I’m not saying this is the perfect situation, but I do honestly think that we’re in a better spot with our goaltending than we were at this point a year ago.

WHO ELSE IS COMING IN?

If the Jack Roslovic signing during last year’s season opener taught me anything, it’s that you never know who will end up as an Oiler as the summer rolls along. I know it’s quiet now, but I also don’t think that Stan Bowman is going to let his $4.72 million in cap space just sit there either. We can talk about how much money the Oilers could accrue by the trade deadline all we want, I won’t be the least bit surprised if we see someone else land in Edmonton on a one-year show me deal. I remember being at the Oilers/Flames game last October and having the Roslovic one-year contract announced during a stoppage in play, and that keeps me scouring PuckPedia’s free agency board to see who might slide into cheap deal category. And while the pool may be shallow, I still can’t help but wonder if Bowman is looking for ways to spend the rest of his Katz bucks.

I think my dream right now is that Vlad Tarasenko becomes so unwanted that his 23 goals (16 at even strength) from last season in Minnesota wind up in Edmonton for, say… half of whatever he’s asking for right now. I’m not pretending to know what his deal is or why he’s not signed yet, but I also feel confident that the Oilers’ dressing room has enough vets to handle whatever has had him bopping around teams for the last few years. Eeli Tolvanen is a guy coming off a 36-point campaign and will likely have to take a discount from the $3.47 million he made last year. I’m not sure Tolvanen is a fit here, but you get the idea. Outside of free agents, maybe there’s a top-six trade out there that is taking time to put together, and teams are waiting to get back from summer vacay before pulling the trigger. Either way, I don’t think we should necessarily bank on the current roster being the team that takes the ice when the season opens. Am I wrong? I don’t think I’m wrong.

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