{"id":56943,"date":"2026-05-22T23:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/56943\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T23:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:51:07","slug":"edmonton-oilers-likely-to-sign-top-european-power-forward-team-insider-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/56943\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers likely to sign top European power forward, team insider reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

This in from Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now, the top Edmonton Oilers<\/a> insider, news that the team is close to signing Russian forward Maxim Berezkin.<\/p>\n

Said Stauffer on X: \u201cNow that KHL Playoffs are over and Edmonton Oilers<\/a> prospect Maxim Berezkin is a 2-time Gagarin Cup Champion with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv\u2026don\u2019t be surprised if the Oilers sign the 6\u20194\u2033, 212 LB winger. Repped by Dan Milstein.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Edmonton Sports Talk radio host Dustin Nielson: \u201c7 goals in 64 games as a 24 year old. Did have 5 goals in the playoffs though. Big body with bottom six potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

My take<\/p>\n

1. This is big news for the Oilers. If Berezkin isn\u2019t the top power forward playing in Europe, he\u2019s on a short list.<\/p>\n

2. Best to count on the big man to give third line help next year. It\u2019ll take him time to adapt to North America, NHL rinks and NHL competition. He may even need some AHl time. But there\u2019s a player here, one who will almost certainly help the Oilers in 2026-27.<\/p>\n

3. Berezkin had 32 points in 64 games this year, 42 in 66 last year, 30 in 62 the season before. He\u2019s not going to light the NHL on fire with scoring. But he\u2019s a big body who can make passes and defend. He\u2019s been a key member of a Russian cup-winning team the past two seasons with 14 goals and eight assists in 38 playoff games.<\/p>\n

Berezkin might well be a useful net-front player on the power play. His grinding and aggressive style could go a long way for the Oilers, who are light on size and aggression at forward just now, having lost players like Evander Kane and Dylan Holloway the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

4. Last April, Oilers GM Stan Bowman spoke to Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now about him, saying: \u201cHe\u2019s had a very good season We\u2019ve been in touch with his representatives and when his season finishes we\u2019re going to buckle down on that. We\u2019ve paid close attention, been impressed with him. He\u2019s a little bit older, good-sized kid, makes plays, comfortable with the puck. You can never have too many of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Last August Berezkin said in an interview with writer Daria Tuboltseva: \u201cMy dream is to play in the NHL, against all these stars I have watched my whole life. I want to test myself at their level. Even if I am worse at first, I will not get upset and look for ways to improve my game.\u201d<\/p>\n

This signing was already reported in April. Tuboltseva reported for R.org: \u201cNext season, the Edmonton Oilers will have one more Russian player on their roster. As R.org has learned, Maxim Berezkin will sign with the Canadian club. The 24-year-old forward is expected to agree to a one-year entry-level contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will you support the Cult of Hockey and the Edmonton Journal? $1 for six months. Let\u2019s do this!<\/a><\/p>\n

At the Cult of Hockey<\/p>\n

Ex-Oilers d-men could well be on the block. Edmonton should make a bid<\/a>LEAVINS: Once you look at the list, Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman may be better off waiting for the guy he really wants<\/a><\/p>\n

NHL goalie market is glutted for Edmonton Oilers this summer<\/a>Can this struggling Edmonton Oilers defenceman reverse his fortunes after a halting 2025-26 season<\/a><\/p>\n

Vegas GM is NHL laughingstock over Cassidy, while Oilers might be open to Mike Babcock as coach<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This in from Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now, the top Edmonton Oilers insider, news that the team is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[654,17338,52,657,9819,16543],"class_list":["post-56943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-bob-stauffer","tag-dylan-holloway","tag-edmonton","tag-evander-kane","tag-maxim-berezkin","tag-oilers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}