The Edmonton Oilers’ 2025 year in review

2025 was another emotional rollercoaster for the Oilers. There were a lot of fun moments, some anxiety along the way, heartbreak, anger, and any other emotion that you can think of. Today, let’s go over all the highs and lows, the biggest stories and any other major events that occurred over the last 365 days.

Connor McDavid plays hero

Let’s start with the Four Nations. No one would have expected the tournament to create as much hype as it did. With all the ongoing trade wars and comments from President Donald Trump, the atmosphere and vibe in the arena, especially the first match-up between these teams in Montreal, was tense. You can feel the hatred. While Canada lost that first game, with the only goal being a beautiful rush by McDavid, they sought revenge.

February 20, 2025. The game went into overtime, and US Captain Auston Matthews had two really good looks to end the tournament. After massive stops by Jordan Binnington, the line of Point-McDavid-Marner was sent out. Marner found McDavid open in the slot, and that was it. Like in 2010 when Crosby scored in overtime in the Olympics, McDavid scored the OT winner vs the Americans to win the game 3-2 for his country.

2024-25 Edmonton Oilers trade deadline

As with any team, the Trade Deadline is a very important date in the NHL calendar. This deadline saw the Oilers make two key additions. One of them was on the backend, picking up Jake Walman from the Sharks in exchange for a 2026 1st round pick and Carl Berglund. This came out of nowhere as the names tied to Edmonton were basically just Brandon Carlo or a guy like Connor Murphy. Walman was one of the team’s best players throughout the playoffs.

The other pickup was televised for a good week before it happened. The Oilers acquired forward Trent Frederic and Max Jones from the Boston Bruins, with Shane Lachance, Max Wanner and a few draft picks going between the Bruins and Devils. Frederic had a high ankle sprain, which basically kept him out for the entire regular season and still looked to be affecting him during the playoffs. Terrible due diligence by the Oilers.

The 2024-25 playoffs

Another year of making the Cup Finals. After how 2024 went, 2025 was one to look forward to as a fan. Will the boys make another run and get revenge? As per usual, they played the Los Angeles Kings in the first round for the fourth straight year. After Skinner lost the first two on the road, Calvin Pickard took the crease. A dumb challenge by Jim Hiller sealed a game 3 win for the Oilers, and in game four, they came back and won in overtime thanks to a Quinton Byfield failed clear. They dominated the Kings on the road in game 5 and finished it off in 6.

Next, it was a rematch of their 2023 series against Vegas, who won in six that season. Edmonton stole two games on the road, but then Pickard went down with an injury. Skinner returned in game three and… wasn’t great. A last-second goal by Rielly Smith was the deciding factor. But then, Skinner goes out and shuts out Vegas in both games four and five. No one had Edmonton winning in five.

Next up, another rematch, this time against the Dallas Stars. After going up 3-1 in the second, Edmonton became undisciplined, and the Stars scored three power play goals in the third to win the game. Edmonton would then go on to shutout the Stars in game 2, crush them in game 3, narrowly come out with a win in game four, lose Hyman for the remainder of the playoffs, and finish them off in game five. Another unlikely result. The Oilers were back in the Cup Final.

Another heartbreaking loss to the Florida Panthers

Once again, they faced the Panthers. A powerplay goal by Leon in overtime gave them the game 1 victory, and in game 2, Corey Perry scored with 20 seconds left to tie the game. Into overtime we went again… however, it was Brad Marchand on a breakaway on a very soft goal allowed by Skinner. Edmonton got dominated in game 3 and in the first 20 minutes of game four. Another heroic comeback by them sent the game into overtime, where Leon scored the winner. Series tied. Game five on home ice with a chance to go up 3-2 in the series….. and they completely folded. They weren’t ready to play. Game 6 was much the same, with the whole team looking terrible.

They lost in back-to-back years to the same team. Soul-crushing. At least in 2025, you can say the Panthers were by far the better team, whereas in 2024, it was a game 7 loss by one goal. Sigh.

Edmonton Oilers 2024-25 Free Agency

As always, Free Agency is the time when teams drastically change their rosters either by trading or signing. The Oilers kicked off the offseason by sending Evander Kane to the Canucks for a fourth-round pick- the same one traded for Podkolzin a year before. They also shipped off Viktor Arvidsson to the Bruins for a 5th round pick.

The Oilers were quiet on July 1st, inking former Flame and Capital Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year contract. However, days later, they would sign former Oil King Curtis Lazar and trade Sam O’Reilly for Ike Howard.

The end of Stuart Skinner

The goalie issues in Edmonton have been spoken about for the entire McDavid era. Stuart Skinner was drafted in 2017 and was seen to be the future of the club. After a super strong rookie campaign in 2022-23, which landed him as the runner-up to Beniers in the Calder race, Skinner gradually got worse and worse with each season.

After being outscored 22-9 in a three-game home stretch this season between the Avalanche, Jackets and Stars, the rumours grew hot that the Oilers were considering a change. Despite a five-game stretch from Skinner, he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins along with Brett Kulak and a 2029 2nd rounder in exchange for Tristan Jarry, a former Oil King, and Samuel Poulin. It sucks it ended the way it did for Skinner here. A hometown boy could have won back-to-back cups for the team. Alas, it did not happen.

1000 points for Leon Draisaitl

Starting the season, Leon Draisaitl was sitting at 956 career regular-season points. Just like McDavid last season, Leon and the team started a bit slow, which prolonged the time it would take to reach the milestone.

On December 16 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Leon hit the elusive achievement on the power play, assisting on a power-play goal scored by Zach Hyman. The Oilers came out and celebrated with Leon right in front of former Oiler netminder Stuart Skinner, who, as mentioned, was just traded the week prior. The Oilers ultimately won the game 6-4.

Looking forward

Yes. It’s extremely tough losing in back to back cup finals, especially to the same team. There’s been so much pain to process over these last two years. But with McDavid and Draisaitl, and the continued growth of the young kids, they’ll win the whole thing eventually. Cheers to 2026, Oilers fans! Let’s hope it’s a good one. Happy New Year!