The Edmonton Oilers enter the 2026 offseason with plenty of tasks on their to-do list and many roster holes to fill.
Oilers' General manager Stan Bowman has roughly $14.5 million in projected cap space available to make signings and fill out the roster, according to. This is before any trades, like Darnell Nurse who is rumoured to be on the trade block.
This could come in handy with plenty of projected unrestricted free agents (UFA) available on July 1st.
Alex Tuch, RW
No sense in burying the lede here. Alex Tuch is arguably the biggest unrestricted free agent (UFA) available this summer. The Buffalo Sabres, after a brilliant regular season and a shorter Stanley Cup run than they were hoping for, will want to preserve as much of the team's chemistry as possible, but if Tuch makes it to July 1st without a new contract, every team should be kicking tires.
The Sabres and Tuch are far enough apart in their negotiations that free agency looks likely for the right winger. He's a highly consistent scorer who performs well on the penalty kill, with a remarkable 9 shorthanded goals over the past two seasons. His reported asking price is $10 million a year, which wouldn't work for the Edmonton Oilers unless someone with a pretty big ticket finds themselves on a new club.
At 29 years of age, Tuch is looking for his last big payday, and a Stanley Cup. Edmonton is most likely going to offer him a chance at the second, if he's willing to lower his ask on the first.
Patrick Kane, RW
The Oilers should look at their 2006 nemesis and current Eastern Conference champs, the Carolina Hurricanes for a potential blueprint. In 2006, longtime Oiler Doug Weight came back into town in a depth role on the Hurricanes. And while his late career Cup win broke a lot of hearts, it was evidence that an elite player in decline can still be effective in the right role. This season's version of the Hurricanes has Taylor Hall, not quite as old, nor playing as far down the lineup, but we see the pattern.
If Patrick Kane has interest in signing with a Canadian franchise, his $3 million price tag from this season looks like a great investment. He managed 41 points and stayed on the positive side in Corsi. Kane can still compete, even if the wheels have slowed at 37 years old. He's also been to the Finals before and came out on top.
Unfortunately, his most likely landing spot is back in Detroit, or somewhere close by. Save for a 19 game stint in New York, Kane has played his entire career within 300 miles of Chicago, IL.
Claude Giroux, LW/RW
Similar to Kane, with a slightly lower upside but an accompanying lower salary, is the 38 year old Claude Giroux. Giroux has played in his birth province the past four seasons as an Ottawa Senator. He's been quite hardy, missing barely any games over that period, and has surely been a steadying veteran presence on that otherwise young Senators team.
Giroux lacks Kane's Cup rings, but he's played in plenty of big games himself. A World junior and World Hockey championship gold medalist, he has also played in a Cup Final, and knows how it feels to fall just short. He's slower than he once was, and likely couldn't step into a top line role at this stage of his career, but as a veteran, he knows where he needs to be, and takes the shortest route there, negating some of the need for acceleration.
Time catches us all, and as the oldest of the three options here, it's possible that Giroux's theoretical arrival in Edmonton would coincide with a fatal drop off in capability, but as a team that's always at or near the salary cap, it's the sort of risk the Oilers will need to consider.
