July 1, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman was set to speak to the media after the opening of the free agency period at 3 pm on Tuesday afternoon. The press conference got pushed back to 4 pm, then 5 pm, then 6 pm, and to 6:30 pm before eventually being cancelled altogether. It was a peculiar series of events to say the least. That led to speculation that Bowman was working on a deal.

As it turned out, there was a deal in the works. The Oilers announced that they signed Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $3.6 million at 8:59 pm. Mangiapane has 243 points in 298 career NHL games, including 28 points in 81 games for the Washington Capitals last season. The 29-year old scored 35 goals for the Calgary Flames once upon a time in 2021-22, but he hasn’t surpassed twenty goals in a given season since then. The 5’10”, 183 lb left winger plays with a tenacity larger than his frame. He’s quick, and he has never had a season in his NHL career where he did not have a positive five-on-five goal share or expected goals percentage. Mangiapane is the leading candidate to play on Leon Draisaitl’s left wing. I don’t see Mangiapane as a legitimate top six winger in any world; but if the options are him, Trent Frederic, or Vasily Podkolzin, I would reluctantly choose him simply because he’s the quickest of the three and he has the longest track record of sustained production in the NHL out of those three.

Andrew Mangiapane scored 35 goals with Calgary in 2021-22.
Was 5th in TOI on both the Flames PP and PK amongst FWDs in his final 3 seasons in Calgary.
Will get an extended look in the @EdmontonOilers top -6 .
Had offers North of 4M AAV. https://t.co/zls583LQur

— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) July 2, 2025

Bowman started the day by trading Viktor Arvidsson to the Boston Bruins for a 2027 fifth round pick to create cap space for Mangiapane. Arvidsson got 27 points in 67 games for the Oilers last season, and he added seven points in fifteen playoff games. It wasn’t a secret that Arvidsson was going to be moved. He was clearly unhappy about being scratched in the playoffs, and the fit was never as good as all involved hoped it would be. The move opened up $4 million in cap space for the 2025-26 season.

The Oilers focussed on their organizational depth with their two signings earlier in the day on Tuesday. Former Sherwood Park Crusader Matt Tomkins signed a two-year, $1.55 million contract. It’s a two-way deal that will see him earn $400k per season in the AHL. The Edmonton product played six games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2023-24, and played in Sweden for two seasons before that. Aside from those stints, he has been a career minor leaguer. Tomkins had a .907 save percentage and a 2.55 goals against average in 26 games for the Syracuse Crunch last season. The 31-year old will replace Olivier Rodrigue, who was not given a qualifying offer by the Oilers over the weekend, as the starting goaltender for the Bakersfield Condors next season.

Riley Stillman is joining the Oilers on a similar deal to that of Tomkins, except he will get $450k in the AHL in year one and $475k in the AHL in year two. Stillman has 26 points in 163 NHL games over the last six seasons, but he has spent most of the last two seasons in the AHL. He played five games with the Carolina Hurricanes and 35 games with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL last season. Stillman is a left-handed defenceman that will be a depth option in case of injury.

The other piece of big news that dropped over the last couple of days was the Evan Bouchard signing. Bouchard signed a four-year extension with a $10.5 million AAV. It was reported that the number for an eight-year team would’ve been higher, and the Oilers couldn’t stomach that number at this time. Cost certainty for the next eight years would’ve been nice, but I don’t know what the ask was for an eight-year term. Obviously a potential Bouchard raise in four years is a scary proposition, but the cap will have risen significantly by then, so it’s hard to say how big of a problem that will be. For now, the $10.5 million AAV allowed the Oilers to have enough cap space to add Mangiapane. Bouchard is too important to the team’s success to give him up, so I was going to be fine with whatever AAV he signed for.

Corey Perry, Connor Brown, and John Klingberg all signed deals with new teams on Tuesday. Perry signed a one-year deal with a $1 million AAV that could turn into $4 million after a signing bonus and potential performance bonuses with the Los Angeles Kings. Current Kings GM and former Oilers GM Ken Holland also signed Cody Ceci on Tuesday. Holland brought both Perry and Ceci to the Oilers during his tenure in Edmonton. Perry’s leadership and presence will certainly be missed, and the goal scoring he provided last season was such a luxury; but $4 million is a lot for a 40-year old for a team that wants to get younger and faster.

Brown signed a four-year deal with a $3 million AAV with the New Jersey Devils. Brown’s Oilers tenure got off to a slow start after returning from his knee injury, but his game rounded back into form over time, especially in the 2024 playoffs. I don’t think Brown would’ve been an overpay by the Oilers; but Frederic prefers the right side over the left side, so he can fill Brown’s spot on the right side of the third line.

Klingberg had a nice stretch of hockey for the Oilers in the playoffs. He only got eleven games in during the regular season after returning from his hip injury, but he got nineteen more during the playoffs. The Stanley Cup Final proved to be a little too quick for Klingberg at this stage in his career, but he was great in the first three rounds. He will get a chance to get ample playing time with the San Jose Sharks next season, where he signed a one-year deal for $4 million.

The Oilers did not address their goaltending situation on Tuesday. I think that was for the best. The free agent goalies that signed today would have been lateral moves at best. Unless Ilya Sorokin or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen become available, I believe that the best path forward is one year of Stuart Skinner working with a new goalie coach. If no improvements are made, then I would explore a trade in the summer when Skinner will be an RFA.

The start of this free agency period was quiet, but it was handled tactfully by Bowman. He was able to create $9.125 million in cap space by moving Arvidsson and Evander Kane out without retaining salary or attaching assets to them, and he got draft picks back for them. David Lewandowski seems like a good bet at pick 117, and the 2027 fifth round pick is ammunition for future “immediate help” trades. Getting Bouchard signed before his being exposed to an offer sheet was a possibility was good timing. The biggest thing that Bowman did was what he didn’t do. He didn’t sign a future problem contract. Mangiapane will be 31-years old when his contract expires two years from now, and the $3.6 million AAV isn’t crippling.

Some fans will feel that the team got worse over the last few days based on who left and what little bit came back. There were no “big swings” by Bowman on Tuesday, which is not what a lot of fans wanted to see as a response to a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final loss at the time when Connor McDavid became eligible to sign a contract extension. Based on today’s information, the Oilers will have just shy of $46 million in cap space in the first year of McDavid’s next contract. Bowman will have a lot of cap flexibility even after McDavid’s new cap hit gets factored into the equation. Bowman won’t be able to present next year’s roster to McDavid as a plan going forward, but it’s better that he didn’t make a bunch of silly short-sighted moves to appease a fan base and to try to impress McDavid today. The current roster is good enough to get to the playoffs, and there’s a little bit of cap space left for some trade deadline action. Nothing done today should push McDavid away from the organization though.