The Edmonton Oilers are being lauded for their free agency. Terms like “good wagers,” “solid bets” and “value” describe the signings. 

Unusual, to be honest. 

Then again, those same phrases were used in 2024 when the Oilers signed Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, and Troy Stetcher, amongst others, on July 1. 

Excitement was high as veterans took less to be in Edmonton. Jeff Jackson doesn’t need to hire a GM – he can do the job himself! 

That initial excitement was tempered weeks later as the St. Louis Blues took advantage of the situation and offersheeted Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. 

On the face of it, these 2024 contracts weren’t that bad relative to the gobs of money other teams spend at the start of free agency. You can debate the reasons, but they just didn’t fit. Even still, the Oilers were this close to winning anyway. If they had won, those contracts wouldn’t be viewed so negatively. The Cup cures many ills. 

So what makes the 2026 free agency different for the Oilers? 

If not better, better built

Circumstances. 

I didn’t think the Oilers were going to be able to “win” a Nurse trade by gaining enough cap space, but they did. 

To Nurse’s credit, he obliged and opened up his trade list, avoiding what could’ve been a knock’em down, drag ’em out soap opera going deep into July and hampering Edmonton’s ability to make moves. 

By clearing all $9.25 million and getting a player who could play in next year’s lineup and grow in Shakir Mukhamadullin, the Oilers cap situation is healthier and makes them more flexible long-term. 

I’m not a Ryan Shea expert. He bears the greatest risk of any signing with term and legitimate dollars, but if he puts up numbers even close to those of a year ago, he’ll do fine in a bottom pair. Perhaps play more on any given night if Walman or Ekholm aren’t going. It could be a Kulak-type situation. 

The biggest piece is how they’re going to make Tristan Jarry compete for a job this season. 

I have my doubts that Frederik Andersen has a lot of great hockey left in the tank, but he proved those doubters wrong with 13 of Carolina’s playoff victories, and that’s a lot more than Jarry’s two lifetime playoff wins. Devon Levi has 17 NHL wins, period. 

There’s experience and pedigree with Andersen, even if Brandon Bussi finished the job. 

Over the course of the last decade, his numbers are comparable to the elite class of NHL goaltenders, but it was a .874 save percentage in 35 games before the postseason, behind a much better defensive system in Carolina than Edmonton. 

Thirty-five games are the most games he’d played in the regular season over the last four years. 

For all these factors, Stan Bowman is laying the groundwork for a three-goalie tandem, which can be awkward and disruptive. But Frederik Andersen and Tristan Jarry have injury risks. We’ll see how........

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