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TSN Insider Rips Apart Oilers GM Stan Bowman on Live Television

Originally posted on Hockey Latest | By Daniel Lucente | Last updated Jul 3, 2025 2:50 PM ET

TSN insider Martin Biron did not hold his words back about Oilers GM Stan Bowman while appearing on a live TV segment, blasting him for his recent moves.

You will not find Stan Bowman's name on any list of NHL free agency successes, and that is not surprising nor unfair. Bowman, with only so much cap space available, had to make some hard choices.

He got rid of the Viktor Arvidsson and Evander Kane contracts as well as those of Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Jeff Skinner, and John Klingberg.

Those moves effectively made room for big raises that are kicking in on some contracts: a $6.6 million annual raise for Evan Bouchard and a $5.5 million raise for Leon Draisaitl.

The higher salary cap helped Bowman secure forward Andrew Mangiapane and re-sign upcoming free agent Trent Frederic. He also made a value addition by signing Curtis Lazar on a steal deal.

Previous interim GM Jeff Jackson did not spend well despite having more cap flexibility last July, whereas Bowman worked well with what he had. However, that has not insulated him from being lambasted.

The Oilers were voted as 'losers' by a ton of NHL insiders

A number of sources have included the Oilers on this year's free agent 'loser' list. Martin Biron did not hold back one bit when speaking live on TSN.

'They did not address their goaltending. So there's a lot of question marks. Is the Edmonton Oilers a better team now? They're not. They're not a better team now than they were when the season ended. They're not a better team now that they were at the start of the season when they didn't even have Evander Kane healthy like they did in the playoffs. So, I'm looking at the Oilers and I'm saying this is disappointing.'
- Martin Biron

Jesse Granger of The Athletic rebuked the Oilers for failing to improve their goaltending. Goaltending was an area Shayna Goldman also raised concerns.

Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff and Lyle Fitzsimmons of Bleacher Report both placed Edmonton in the 'loser' camp. So too did Adam Proteau of The Hockey News and Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet.

'A lot of valuable depth - from Corey Perry to Connor Brown to John Klingberg - went out the door and any notion the Oilers could do something to upgrade the crease was killed by a grim goalie market that became completely barren once Jake Allen re-upped in New Jersey.'
- Ryan Dixon

In short, despite prudent and savvy cap management by Bowman, the Oilers are taking a lot of heat, precisely for what they didn't accomplish, specifically in net.

This article first appeared on Hockey Latest and was syndicated with permission.

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