March 7, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

There were a lot of scenarios that could have played out with the Edmonton Oilers leading up to Friday’s NHL trade deadline. They were sitting in third spot in the entire league and first in the Pacific Division at one point in early February, but a recent slump has seen them slide to a tie for ninth spot in the league and second in the division. They were certainly a strong if not elite team entering the trade deadline, but they had several areas of concern that could have been addressed. Championship expectations and a passionate fan base mixed with a team with several potential areas of improvement is a recipe for an emotional and contentious trade deadline period.

Let’s talk about what the Oilers did first. It started with the three-way trade that brought Trent Frederic and Max Jones to Edmonton from the Boston Bruins. The Bruins got Max Wanner along with St. Louis’s 2025 second round pick and the Oilers’s 2026 fourth round pick in exchange for Frederic (50% retained) and Jones. The Oilers and the New Jersey Devils swapped prospects with Shane LaChance going to the team his father works for and with Petr Hauser joining the Oilers organization because the Devils retained a quarter of Frederic’s cap hit.

Oilers GM Stan Bowman addressed the media Friday afternoon, and he said “…we have a lot of players that are similar up front. They’re kind of different versions of the same player. They have different attributes, but for the most part they’re not like Frederic or Jones. Those guys have a much different skill set, and I think it’s something that we’ve been lacking, and as a result, it was an important piece for us to address that.”

Related: Oilers acquire Frederic

That lacking skill set is physicality. The Oilers are not a physical team, and they’re a small team. Frederic and Jones are big, physical forwards that will make the Oilers tougher to play against. Speaking about Frederic, Bowman said that “…his game is going to translate really well to our team and to the fans here. I think they’re going to love watching Freddy play. I’ve only met him once, and he’s got a great personality. He seems to love life. He’s one of those guys that’s upbeat, optimistic, fun to be around, and when the game starts, he plays to win. He’s a very competitive guy. I think he brings an element we just don’t have. He’s a lot to handle on the ice. He’s a big guy, and he can score too. He can play centre, so he’s got that flexibility to play the middle or up the lineup on the wing.”

Bowman noted that he thinks that Frederic could play either on the wing in the top six, or as the third line centre. They clearly view him as a legitimate top nine forward. I’m less optimistic about that level of offensive output coming from Frederic because his points per game output has almost been cut in half from last season, and his five-on-five points per 60 rate is less than half of what it was last season; but Bowman still sees the 40-point player that Frederic was last season. I think his optical prescription needs a check up, but that’s my opinion. I hope to be proven wrong.

As for Jones, Bowman doesn’t know where he will fit into the lineup. That’s for Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch to decide. Bowman did talk about the fact that the active roster limit of 23 players gets removed at the trade deadline, which means teams can carry as many bodies as they want as long as the roster is cap compliant. He also mentioned that teams only get four recalls to use between now and the end of the season. Bowman explained that it’s important to take advantage of the roster limit being lifted to carry a lot of bodies so they aren’t forced to use all of their recalls in case of injury. He also talked about the importance of internal competition keeping players at the tops of their games for fear of having their spot in the lineup taken by someone else.

After sending Cam Dineen back to Bakersfield on Friday afternoon, the Oilers have 23 players on the active roster with $1,075,560 in cap space according to PuckPedia. That gives the Oilers the flexibility to call someone up if they need to, but they also have three extra skaters available to them without making recalls right now.

Then came a late night trade that saw Jake Walman griddy his way out of San Jose in exchange for Carl Berglund and the Oilers’s 2026 first round pick. This is what Bowman had to say about Walman:

“I think Walman’s a really big upgrade for our group. He’s somebody that we’ve talked about going back to the middle of the year as a big target… Mike Grier is probably tired of talking to me about him because I’ve been told a long time that he wouldn’t trade him, ‘We’re not going to trade him. He’s got another year, I don’t have to trade him’. We just kind of stuck with it, and then the other day when we pitched it to him, I think we got his attention, and we eventually got it to where he came in.”

“I love his skill set. He’s a bug guy. Maybe he’s not super tall, but he’s 6’1” and almost 220 pounds, so he’s strong; and he can skate, makes plays, very competitive. He doesn’t play a passive game, he’s involved in the game. I think our forwards are going to enjoy playing with him… He’s going to be a big, big upgrade for the D.”

Walman has been the best defenceman on the San Jose Sharks this season. He’s a fantastic player that was on a terrible team. Time will tell exactly where he will slot into the group, but he’s a big upgrade on several current Oilers defencemen. It’s a log jam with eight NHL defencemen on the active roster. Knoblauch definitely has options for how to best utilize those defencemen, and twenty games to find the right mix.

Related: Walman was the smartest use of Kane’s LTIR space

Bowman also used almost all of the LTIR space that was available because of Evander Kane being injured. The team announced that Kane will indeed miss the remainder of the regular season, which was basically cemented when the Walman trade was made. Bowman said that the Oilers only gained full clarity on Kane’s status on Thursday, which made the Walman trade possible.

Bowman addressed two areas of concern. He added size and physicality in the forward group, and he added a top four defenceman. He also used Kane’s LTIR space to make those moves. He even used creativity to use a third team to facilitate a double retention deal to acquire a player at 25% of his cap hit. Whether you think that was enough or not is up to you. Some fans will undoubtedly feel that Bowman didn’t do enough, or that he didn’t go “all in”.

Bowman wouldn’t agree with that sentiment. “I think we’re all in to try to win right now. That’s been our focus for sure. We don’t have many draft picks this year. We’ve got a couple, which is tough on the amateur scouts, but I understand that’s the price of being a team that’s trying to add to their group, so there was no hesitation to trade first round picks or prospects… First round picks are valuable, but players are even more valuable for where we are, so we were aggressive on that front.” He also added that they wouldn’t have got Walman if they weren’t willing to give up a first round pick. He targeted Walman months ago, hounded Grier relentlessly until he gave in, and used a first round pick to get the deal done. You can’t tell me he wasn’t being aggressive.

Let’s talk about what Bowman didn’t do at the trade deadline. He didn’t address the goaltending. That’s the decision that will cause the most outrage in Oil Country. He acknowledged the recent goaltending struggles, but he chose to look objectively at the larger picture of the whole season and pointed to the long stretch where the Oilers got solid goaltending and won many hockey games. I personally didn’t see any true upgrades available at the deadline (yes, that includes John Gibson). I’m good with the decision that was made on the goaltending front.

Bowman also didn’t land a scoring winger for Leon Draisaitl. He told the media that he was trying to make some other things happen, but that they just didn’t pan out. He was asked specifically about Mikko Rantanen and Brad Marchand, the two biggest names that were moved in the league on Friday and the only two that would’ve fit the “all in” mantra as defined in the minds of many Oilers fans. Of course, Bowman did not comment specifically about those two players, but there was a rumour that the Oilers were discussing Rantanen, and Marchand had been connected to the Oilers leading up to the deadline. I’m not surprised that Rantanen chose to take a deal in a tax free state, especially after coming to the realization that his market value didn’t match his perceived self value. I was fairly surprised to see that the return for Marchand was as affordable as it was, but we don’t know the full details of all negotiations between the Boston Bruins and other teams.

Adding those players would’ve involved moving some money out, which was difficult because the Oilers have so many players with no-move clauses. Bowman didn’t view that as a hindrance, which tells me that he didn’t really want to move anyone off the roster. “We’re trying to add to our group, not really do lateral trades” he said. When preparing for a potential championship run, it makes total sense to ADD to the group, not to just change the group. I wasn’t expecting anyone to get moved off the roster to create cap space for more expensive players.

Something else that he didn’t do that I appreciate is that he didn’t acquire anyone over the age of 30. The team is already old and slow. The trade deadline moves will bring the average age of the team down. Experience is valuable, but it’s more important to get good hockey players regardless of age. The previous regime was intent on adding “grey beards”, but Bowman’s additions are squarely in their primes.

The other thing I appreciate about these additions is that two of the three have another year left on their contracts. Frederic is an impending unrestricted free agent, but Walman and Jones are each signed through next season. Frederic could potentially be re-signed depending on how things go this spring. Having some cost certainty entering the first year of Draisaitl’s new contract and the first year of the contract we assume Evan Bouchard will sign will be helpful come July 1. These moves will help the team now and through next season at the very least. That makes me feel better about the acquisition costs of these players, which I felt was a bit high in both trades.

This trade deadline from the Oilers wasn’t viewed favourably by the media as a whole. The Oilers didn’t make the splashes that teams like the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche did in the Central Division. The Winnipeg Jets added less than the Oilers did (Brandon Tanev and Luke Schenn), and their deadline is being viewed more positively than the Oilers after adding a younger forward and a better defenceman than the Jets added. The Toronto Maple Leafs essentially did what the Oilers did by adding a third line centre (Scott Laughton) and a second pairing defenceman (Brandon Carlo), and their deadline is being viewed more positively than the Oilers’ deadline as well.

I think Bowman’s deadline deserves a B. Bowman addressed two serious concerns by adding size and scoring to the forward group and by adding a top four defenceman with term. I would’ve preferred a more prolific winger over Frederic, but Frederic will be a contributor. I think we’re going to like Walman. I think the costs were high, but I’m glad that Bowman did not give up any of Matthew Savoie, Sam O’Reilly, or Beau Akey. I’m not angry about not getting a goalie. There were no panic trades, and there were no washed up veterans added for their experience.

It wasn’t the most exciting Oilers deadline ever, but I think it was a decent one for them. Nobody is going to claim that the Oilers won deadline day, but teams that win deadline day rarely win in June. That’s the only win that matters.