This in from Edmonton Oilers insider Bob Stauffer, his take that the Edmonton Oilers will look at trading for a Top 6 winger this summer.
“FWIW. Not sure how the Edmonton Oilers make it happen. But. IMO. The Oilers need to target a legit top-6 FWD via trade. Possibly a distressed asset on another team.”
My take
1. Stauffer clearly frames this as his opinion and as speculation. But even with that kind of proviso, I still put weight in his guess here.
Yes, Stauffer could just be making some noise at a time when interest in the Oilers is at a low ebb. It’s not jus the players who got tired from those two Stanley Cup runs. It’s also the fans.
But if he’s guessing the Oilers need a Top 6 winger, I’m guessing he’s likely heard something.
And it’s also the case that it’s not any kind of a stretch that the Oilers are looking for a Top 6 winger, as pretty much every single summer of the McDavid/Draisaitl era the team has tried to acquire a Top 6 winger.
2. By my count the Oilers have brought in 32 wingers — either through draft, trade or free agent signing — with the hope that the new winger will have success playing with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.
So far, by my count, just six of those 32 incoming wingers have had some measure of success for a reasonable amount of time playing with either McDavid or Draisaitl: Patrick Maroon, Kailer Yamamoto, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, Dylan Holloway and Jack Roslovic.
I’m tempted to include Matt Savoie on that list of six. He ripped it up on McDavid’s wing late this season, but that was a short sample size and he crashed on the top line in the playoffs.
The Oilers have also brought in three wingers who they didn’t expect to play in the Top 6 who have succeeded for a time with McDavid and/or Draisaitl: Vasily Podkolzin, Corey Perry and Zack Kassian. Kasperi Kapanen might also be added to that shorter list.
What I’m getting at is that as try as the Oilers might, they’ve had a hard time finding wingers who can fit in with McDavid and/or Drasaitl on a line.
wingers
3. I wonder what this means for Jack Roslovic, who got little done in the playoffs? Roslovic had some success with Draisaitl this year, but the Oilers didn’t feature him in a Top 6 role as the season went along. He was more of a third-line guy.
4. Depending on how much a “distressed asset” is going to cost in salary cap hit and trade, I wonder if it’s not better to stick with Roslovic?
Would he not come cheaper and likely have similar results?
For example one name that comes up a lot is Jordan Kyrou, 28, of St. Louis. He scored 1.89 points per 60 at even strength this year, not much more than Roslovic at 1.73 per 60.
Kyrou earns $8.1 million a year for the next five years.
Pavel Buchnevich, 30, of St. Louis scored 1.6 points per 60 and will earn $8 million a year for the next five years. Are Kyrou or Buchnevich better bets than Roslovic?
For this to work, St. Louis had better be eating a lot of their cap hit or taking back some of Edmonton’s own distressed assets in trade.
But I’m just guessing here as to who Stauffer and/or the Oilers might have in mind. Oilers GM Stan Bowman tends to surprise us, such as when he traded for Jake Walman at the 2025 trade deadline and Connor Murphy at the 2026 trade deadline, two names that very few people have mentioned as possible trade targets.
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