The playoffs are over and rumours are back on the menu. With the 2025 NHL Draft and Free Agency mere days away, teams will once again begin making moves to shape their roster for the upcoming season.
The Edmonton Oilers are in a bit of crossroads—they’ve made the Stanley Cup Finals two years in a row, but they have limited assets and their supporting cast largely lies on the wrong side of 30.
Earlier today on 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas broke down the latest rumblings surrounding the team as we approach the first milestone of the offseason.
The Viktor Arvidsson saga may be coming to an end
Viktor Arvidsson had a disappointing Oiler debut. After signing a two year, $4M AAV contract, the right winger was only able to chip in 15 goals and 12 assists in 67 regular season games (two goals and five assists in 15 playoff games). After spending most of the postseason in the bottom-six or as a healthy scratch, Friedman suggested that both the team and player realize there wasn’t a fit and that it’s time to move on.
“In Edmonton I think Arvidsson and the Oilers… it just didn’t work, it’s time to move on…he has control, but I think he’s going to work with them.”@FriedgeHNIC on 32 Thoughts
— Adhi (@OilerAlert) June 23, 2025
This is great news for the Oilers. Arvidsson’s play was serviceable, but his cap hit was extremely inefficient for what he added to the team. What Viktor lacked in size he made up for in effort, but does Edmonton prioritize a larger body to slot alongside Leon Draisaitl next season? Or is this the opening that blue-chipper Matthew Savoie has been waiting for? Time will tell.
Is Evan Bouchard offered a bridge deal?
Let’s get this out of the way: trading Evan Bouchard would be a huge mistake.
Thankfully, it seems that both the player and organization want to keep this relationship going. What remains to be seen is whether Bouchard is only offered a bridge deal or if he signs long term. The young defenceman has an extremely strong arbitration case, and Friedman speculated that even a smaller contract may eclipse the eight-figure mark.
“I think what Bouchard’s deal is going to look like is a really interesting one, because his arb case is so massive…someone was saying to me ‘even if you want to sign him to a two or three year deal, the number is still probably $10M.’ I think it’s going to be really fascinating to see what they do there.”
Based on the above, it doesn’t seem like there are going to be major cap savings even if the Oilers sign Bouchard to a shorter, “win-now” contract. If that’s the case, there’s no reason for Edmonton not to lock him up for the full eight years.
Finding a goaltending upgrade via trade
It’s no secret that the Edmonton Oilers have things to sort out on the goaltending front. Whether that means bringing back their tandem (unlikely) or pursuing an upgrade for one, if not both, of their netminders remains to be seen, but management will certainly be analyzing their options.
That said, the free agent market lacks quality upgrades, and the Oilers run the risk of signing another bloated contract that they may come to regret. With this in mind, Friedman is confident the Oilers will be looking at trade options in net, and even went as far as to say that management may get confirmation from core players before executing a potential deal.
“The best goalie available on the free agent market is Jake Allen. I don’t know that that’s what they’re going to do, but at the very least it’s clear they’re going to be looking into the trade market… they’ve admitted they talk to some of their top players about it, like ‘what do you guys think?’ and I wouldn’t be surprised if they go to some of those guys…go over some of their options and say ‘here’s what we could do’ and ‘what do you like?'”
Regardless of what the Oilers ultimately decide, this will be a fascinating story to follow as the summer progresses.
Kasperi Kapanen may return to Edmonton for the 2025–26 season
Lastly, Friedman added that there’s a decent chance that Kasperi Kapanen stays with the Oilers, as he was able to find a home with the team and there would be a spot available for him next year.
Kapanen was claimed off of waivers from St. Louis in late November and put up five goals & eight assists in 57 regular season games. The former Blue had a fairly pedestrian regular season, but his play ramped up in the playoffs, and he was one of the many depth players that made important contributions for the Oilers on their run. Most notably, he scored the overtime winner against the Vegas Golden Knights to end the series in five games and send Edmonton to their second consecutive Western Conference Final.
The Oilers may be looking at Kapanen as an internal Viktor Arvidsson replacement, if they’d like to allocate their free cap dollars to other positions in the lineup. Kapanen was one of the rare forwards on last year’s team who was under 30 years of age; if they can keep his contract relatively inexpensive (in both dollar and term), he could again be a decent depth option for the Oilers once again.
Other storylines to watch over the summer
During his season-ending press conference, Stan Bowman mentioned that defence will largely stay the same and that the biggest areas of change may come at forward and in net. Key decisions up front include whether the Oilers look to bring back Corey Perry and Connor Brown (reports seem to indicate that they might), and what they do with Evander Kane. The Oilers struggled to score against the Florida Panthers in the Cup Final, and after almost landing Mikko Rantanen at the deadline, I would expect Bowman to be aggressively seeking another difference maker in the top-six.
Of course the biggest storyline of all is Connor McDavid and whether he will sign an extension with the Edmonton Oilers. There’s been a lot of speculation online about whether he takes his talents elsewhere, but I am not worried in the slightest. McDavid wants to win, and he wants to win in Edmonton. Whether he signs an eight-year extension or a shorter term deal, we should all be thankful that we’ve been able to witness the prime years of the greatest hockey player to ever grace the ice.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
