Five forwards the Oilers could invite to training camp on a PTO

The Oilers could do with some more forward depth.

This off-season, Edmonton lost some quality players up front. Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane, and Viktor Arvidsson signed elsewhere or were traded. In response, the Oilers signed Andrew Mangiapane, traded for Ike Howard, and will rely on top prospect Matthew Savoie to make an impact.

Still, more can be done. Enter the professional tryout. There are a handful of talented players remaining in free agency, ranging from middle-six centres to former prolific scorers to speedsters to tough guys.

Let’s take a look at five forwards the Oilers could invite to training camp on a PTO.

Jack Roslovic

The best remaining free agent forward is Jack Roslovic. Last season, the right-shot centre scored 22 goals and 39 points in 81 games with the Carolina Hurricanes, adding a goal and four points in nine postseason games.

Roslovic tends to sit around 11-12 goals a season, but has hit the 22-goal mark twice in his career, as well as the 40-point mark twice (nearly three times). Although he’s listed as a centre and took faceoffs in 2024-25, the 28-year-old mainly played on the wing with the Hurricanes last season.

Although he remains a free agent with pre-season right around the corner, it seems likely that a team will eventually cave into his contract demands because he’s far too talented for a PTO.

Max Pacioretty

Max Pacioretty isn’t the same player he was when he was scoring 30 goals a season, but he’s still a solid bottom-six scorer on a contending team. Last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he played just 37 games, scoring five goals and 13 points.

In the postseason, the 36-year-old left winger added three goals and eight points in 11 postseason games, as the Maple Leafs fell in Game 7 of the second round to the Florida Panthers.

A goal for the Oilers this off-season was to get younger and faster, and signing Pacioretty achieves neither of those goals. But the Oilers got a career renaissance out of Corey Perry last season, so maybe it’s worth it to take a look at Pacioretty.

Robby Fabbri

One player who is under the age of 30 with some speed is 29-year-old Robby Fabbri. The potential to be a consistent double-digit goal scorer has always been there, but Fabbri’s big issue has been staying healthy.

His best season came in his rookie season in 2015-16, scoring 18 goals and 37 points in 72 games. He matched his career-high goal total just two seasons ago, as he potted 18 goals and 32 points in 68 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2023-24. It was the fourth time in his career that Fabbri hit the 30-point mark, falling just shy of a fifth time as he finished with 29 points in his sophomore season.

On a per-game basis, Fabbri’s 2024-25 season was strong, finishing with eight goals and 16 points in just 44 games. Over 82 games, he was on pace for nearly 15 goals and 29 points. Fabbri lost a large chunk of the season due to injury.

Andreas Athanasiou

In 2019-20, Fabbri was teammates with Andreas Athanasiou for a short stint. Before the 2020 deadline, Athanasiou was traded to the Oilers, scoring a goal and two points in nine games, while being held pointless in four postseason games.

The Oilers didn’t tender Athanasiou, and he signed with the Los Angeles Kings, scoring 10 goals and 23 points in 47 games in 2020-21 and 11 goals and 17 points in 28 games during the 2021-22 season.

Athanasiou had one of his better seasons playing with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23, scoring 20 goals and 40 points in 81 games, only bested by his 30 goals and 54 points the season before the trade to the Oilers.

Unfortunately, Athanasiou hasn’t found the same success in the past two seasons, playing just 36 National Hockey League games where he’s scored three goals and 10 points. Most of his 2024-25 season was spent with the rebuilding Blackhawks’ AHL team, scored 11 goals and 27 points in 30 games.

Did the Athanasiou experiment work in 2020? No, as the horrendous Jordan Eberle trade tree ended with his departure. That said, Athanasiou is known for his speed, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a look at him in pre-season, even if he doesn’t make the roster.

Klim Kostin

Like Athanasiou, there’s familiarity with Klim Kostin, albeit Kostin’s played quite a few more games. Drafted 31st overall in the 2017 draft, Kostin played half a season with the Blues in 2021-22, scoring four goals and nine points. Before the start of the 2022-23 season, the Oilers traded Dmitri Samarukov to the Blues for Kostin.

It was in Edmonton where Kostin found his greatest success, scoring a career-best 11 goals and 21 points in just 57 games, along with three goals and five points in 12 postseason games. Sadly, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings before the trade deadline as the Oilers couldn’t offer him what he wanted.

With the Wings, where yes, he was teammates with Fabbri, Kostin scored just three goals and four points in 33 games, never finding his footing in Hockey Town. Before the 2024 trade deadline, Kostin was traded to the San Jose Sharks, where he scored five goals and 10 points in just 19 games. Moreover, Kostin was seen in the stands as a fan in the Oilers’ first game of the 2024 postseason, showing that there’s still love between him and the city.

Kostin struggled in 2024-25, scoring a goal and seven points in 35 games, with 27 penalty minutes and a -6. The Russian forward missed more than half the season due to injury last season, but he has grit that the Oilers’ bottom-six needs, and heck, who knows, maybe he has a similar season to his 2022-23.