Realistic Oilers UFA Targets
July 1, 2026
Ending Nurse’s Oilers tenure was best for both sides
July 3, 20262026 Oilers Free Agent Frenzy Wrap
EDMONTON, AB - July 24,2024: Edmonton Oilers GM & EVP of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman addresses the media at Rogers Place. Photo Credit: Oilers TV
July 1, 2026 by Ryan Lotsberg
There’s lots to go over from a busy first day of the free agency period for the Edmonton Oilers, so let’s dive into it. The Oilers made two significant trades, signed four new players, and re-signed two players.
Trades
Darnell Nurse
First and most significantly, the Oilers traded Darnell Nurse to the San Jose Sharks for defencemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp. I’m going to write a whole separate piece on the Nurse trade, so I’ll keep my thoughts short for now. Nurse played the second most games among Oilers defencemen all-time (798) and leaves the franchise in second place among Oilers defencemen in goals (88), fifth in assists (236) and points (324), third in even strength points (276), third in game-winning goals (13), and second in overtime goals (6). He was a tremendous contributor on and off the ice in Edmonton during his twelve years in Edmonton. I thank him for that and wish him all the best in San Jose.
As Elliotte Friedman reported, the three teams that were initially on Nurse’s list of approved trade destinations were the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Boston Bruins. Oilers GM Stan Bowman did not want to retain salary on Nurse’s contract, and those three teams wanted the Oilers to do so. Bowman stuck to his guns and eventually found a team to take Nurse’s full contract. It took him a little bit of time, but Nurse eventually decided to waive his no-trade clause for the Sharks.
The biggest piece of the return (literally and figuratively) is Mukhamadullin. The 6’4”, 200 lb left-handed defenceman put up twelve points in 50 games for the Sharks last season. Mukhamadullin was the twentieth pick in the 2020 draft, and he has registered 22 points in 83 games for the Sharks since then, 80 of which have come in the last two seasons. Bowman talked about how Mukhamdullin was effective on the penalty kill last season, and likes that the 24-year old can play on his off side if needed. He spent most of last season playing the right side as a left shot. All signs point to Mukhamadullin being an effective young third pairing defenceman. Mukhamadullin is an RFA that the Oilers will need to sign this summer. I see him as a seventh defenceman for now with room to pass Ty Emberson on the depth chart eventually.
Sharp was drafted by the Sharks in the fourth round of the 2025 draft. The 21 year old is entering his third season with Western Michigan University. He doesn’t seem poised to steal an NHL spot any time soon, but he’s another prospect in the pipeline. The Oilers have until June 1, 2027 to sign Sharp to an NHL contract before losing his rights.
Devon Levi
The other significant trade the Oilers made on Wednesday was picking up Devon Levi from the Buffalo Sabres along with a 2028 seventh round pick for the Oilers’ 2028 third round pick. Levi is a highly touted goaltending prospect that found himself fourth on the Sabres’ depth chart after they picked up Colten Ellis on waivers from the St. Louis Blues early last season. After missing out on Sebastian Cossa, who was dealt to the Utah Mammoth during last Friday’s draft, the Oilers clearly pivoted to Levi. Levi has a $812,500 cap hit for the coming season and will become a RFA after that.
The 24-year old spent all of last season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans where he posted a .904 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.83 goals against average (GAA) in 52 games. That was something of a down season for Levi. He had a much better .919 SV% and 2.20 GAA there in 42 games in 2024-25. He had a .927 SV% and a 2.42 GAA in 26 games in 2023-24. Those are solid AHL numbers, aside from the stumble this past season with an increased workload. Bob Stauffer commented that Levi had “exceptional advanced analytics (GSAA) over the last three years in the AHL”. I’ll trust Michael Parkatti and the analytics department on that.
I was really hoping the Oilers would find a way to add a high-end goaltending prospect, and they did. This is the type of the bet the Oilers needed to make right now. They need a long-term solution in goal because they have had instability and inconsistency at the position for too long. There’s no guarantee that Levi is going to be that goaltender, but I’m happy for the Oilers to move back four rounds in the 2028 draft to find out.
Incoming UFAs
Ryan Shea
Moving on to the incoming free agents, the Oilers signed Ryan Shea to a five-year deal with a $4 million AAV. Shea is a 29-year old left-handed defenceman that put up 35 points in 80 games and was +30 with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season. It was a breakout season for the 2019 fourth round pick, who had never played more than 39 games in an NHL season prior to last season. Of his 35 points, 33 were 5v5 points. He got one powerplay point and one four-on-four point. He spent most of his 5v5 minutes playing beside Kris Letang, which seems like a valid explanation for his offensive outburst. However, Shea led all Penguins defencemen with nineteen primary 5v5 assists. Nobody else had more than thirteen. That is a defence unit that included Letang and Erik Karlsson, who played 74 and 75 games respectively.
I realize +/- is a flawed and outdated stat, but he was +13 higher than any other Penguins player. He was +12 at 5v5 (87-58, 60%), which is the more important consideration in my opinion. PuckIQ tells us that Shea’s usage was heavily skewed towards middle level competition last season (42.7%), which shows he will more than be able to handle his third pairing role with the Oilers. Data from AllThreeZones, as shared by Kevin McCurdy below, tells us that Shea isn’t necessarily the best in-zone defender, but he excels at puck retrievals and zone exits. He gets the puck moving the right way quickly, which is a fantastic trait in today’s NHL. I don’t see Shea getting 35 points again because he will get less opportunity with the scoring lines than he got with the Penguins last season, but he will move the puck up to the forwards quickly and efficiently. That will be a nice fit beside Emberson, who plays more of a shut down style, on the third pairing.
Shea also excels as a penalty killer. I would expect Shea and Emberson to form one penalty killing duo, and Mattias Ekholm and Connor Murphy to be the other penalty killing duo.
Shea is essentially the Nurse replacement. That isn’t necessarily fair to Shea because Nurse played on the second pairing and consistently led the Oilers in 5v5 ice time for many years, but the roster construction strategy in moving Nurse was to take from a strong left side and redistribute that cap spending around the roster. The defenceman coming in to fill Nurse’s roster spot was always going to be a downgrade. Shea isn’t as good as Nurse, but we shouldn’t compare the two directly. Shea will be a luxury to have as a third pairing defenceman at a reasonable cap hit for the next five years. He will be 34 years old when the contract expires, but the Oilers will get fair value out of this contract.
Frederik Andersen
There’s long-term risk with Levi, but a lot of fans were more concerned about needing a reliable running mate for Tristan Jarry right now. That concern was alleviated Wednesday evening when the Oilers signed Frederik Andersen to a one-year, $2.8 million deal.
The 36-year old’s performance declined last season (35 GP, .874 SV%, 3.05 GAA), but he had an incredible playoff run with the Carolina Hurricanes (16 GP, .910 SV%, 1.89 GAA) before exiting the Stanley Cup Final late in Game 3 due to a knee issue. Injuries have always been a concern with Andersen. If he’s healthy, he will be a nice fit as a temporary placeholder until Levi shows that he’s fully NHL-ready. It’s a reasonable play on a one-year deal.
Levi will require waivers to be sent to the AHL next season, which obviously was a key reason the Sabres were willing to move him. I don’t imagine the Oilers risking losing Levi on waivers after trading for him. As Stauffer suggested, I would also expect the Oilers to carry three goaltenders for the season, which isn’t ideal. Injuries are a concern with Jarry and Andersen, so it might not be a fully crowded crease for the ENTIRE season. The Oilers will definitely be covered in case of a goalie injury this season.
Mathieu Joesph
Mathieu Joseph signed a one-year deal with an AAV of $1 million. Joseph got eleven points in 39 games for the St. Luois Blues before his contract was terminated before the trade deadline. He signed with the Los Angeles Kings, and he didn’t get a point in twelve games after signing with them. Joseph is a left-handed winger that can play either side. His greatest assets are his speed and his forechecking ability. He’s also a decent penalty killer, which is an area in which the Oilers need to improve. I see him as nothing more than a depth option that will not play every night, but he won’t hurt us when he’s in the lineup.
Eduards Tralmaks
Eduards Tralmaks is a Latvian forward that collected 42 points in 64 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins last season along with a +29 rating. The 29-year old spent the previous two seasons playing for Kladno in Czechia. It’s a two-way deal with an AAV of $850k. This is an AHL signing, but there’s an outside chance that the 6’3”, 221 lb winger becomes a call-up option this coming season.
Returning UFAs
A recent social media post from his wife saying it was the couple’s last day in Canada felt a bit ominous, but Kasperi Kapanen will be back with the Oilers next season. Kapanen signed a one-year, $2.6 million deal. Kapanen got seventeen points in 41 games last season, and six more in six playoff games. He was a difference maker when he was healthy last season, but an unfortunate run of injuries kept him on the IR for half the season. Kapanen brings speed, physicality, and some scoring punch. He has excellent chemistry with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin, but I see Kapanen playing on the third line in a perfect world. $2.6 million is a team-friendly AAV for Kapanen, and it gives him a chance to potentially have another great season and capitalize on the rising cap next summer. It’s a win-win for both sides.
Max Jones also re-signed with the Oilers. His is a one-year deal at $850k. Jones played well when he got his chance last season, and I believe will be a useful depth option for the Oilers. I see him as a thirteenth or fourteenth forward at best and a good AHL option at worst.
Wrap
I could look at today’s work by Bowman in a couple of different ways. The individual trades and signings that he made were all good moves. Moving Nurse’s entire contract and getting a young roster player back was a positive. I’m a fan of the bet the organization is making on Levi, and the acquisition cost was low. Shea is a fantastic addition, I’m glad to have Kapanen back at a more than reasonable AAV, and I love Andersen as an insurance option in goal.
The biggest win of the day is that Bowman didn’t overpay anyone to play in a role that they aren’t suited for. The Oilers managed to avoid making a major mistake like they did the last two summers with Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, and Andrew Mangiapane.
I could also compare the roster as it stands today to the one the Oilers lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the playoffs with in April. The Oilers lost Jack Roslovic without making an addition to their top nine. Bringing Kapanen back was a smart decision, but there have been no improvements to that group yet.
When you give up the best player in a trade like the Oilers did with Nurse today, the team gets weaker. The Oilers defence group is weaker than the one they started the day with. They added some quality depth, and the hope is that Shea along with a full season of Connor Murphy will reduce the team’s defensive struggles. The defence group needed a change and the cap space that was being used on Nurse needed to be redistributed, but the defence group is weaker on paper now.
I expect the Oilers to get better goaltending than they got last season with their new goaltending trio; but you know what they say… if you have three goalies, then you don’t have one. There are legitimate questions about the validity of each of these three goalies as an NHL starter in 2026-27. I feel more confident about the goaltending now than I did at any point last season though.
It was a positive day for Bowman and the Oilers. Oilers fans are widely happy with the day’s events, and they should be.
We should include the extensions of Murphy and Jason Dickinson in our evaluation of the free agency period as well. Those two signings were all about the defensive side of the puck. Adding a quality third pairing defenceman that fared quite well at 5v5 last year to replace Nurse and adding two new goalies was about improving defensively.
Penalty killing was also a clear focus for Bowman today. Shea, Mukhamadullin, and Joseph are all useful penalty killers. The hope is that some new players will help new associate coach DJ Smith improve the Oilers penalty kill, which was a giant sore spot for them last season.
The thinking appears to be that the Oilers score enough goals and they needed to find a way to keep the puck out of their net. They will rely on a select group of players to handle the load offensively and hope the others don’t get scored on much. They will also try to get back to the old recipe of relying on those select players and special teams to win games for them.
I don’t love this roster construction philosophy, especially in a rising cap environment where building a third line that can win the goal share battle using both offensive and defensive ability was a real possibility. But, that’s another piece for another day. For today, the individual moves made were generally positive ones.
According to PuckPedia, the Oilers now have $6,403,334 left to sign their three remaining RFAs (Colton Dach, Spencer Stastney, and Mukhamadullin). That figure includes fourteen forwards before adding Dach, so they have more cap space in reality than what the PuckPedia figure suggests. I fully expect Dach and Mukhamadullin to sign. I’m less certain about Stastney now. They won’t value him over the key piece of the return for Nurse. He’s eighth on the depth chart after today’s moves, and if his AFP projection of $2,286,267 per season on a two-year deal is at all indicative of his asking price, I don’t think the Oilers can afford to sign him.
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