“Inside the Oilers’ Offseason Gamble: Will McDavid’s Future Hang on Bold Moves for Savoie, O’Reilly, and Hidden Free Agent Gems?”

As the NHL season progresses, the Edmonton Oilers find themselves facing a critical juncture in their roster development strategy. With a noticeable gap in high-impact prospects, the organization may need to pivot away from reliance on draft picks and instead explore new avenues for talent acquisition. That’s where college and European free agents come into play. Recent discussions have highlighted the importance of retaining promising players like Matt Savoie and Sam O’Reilly while also looking to fill their prospect pool with fresh faces from across the globe. This shift in focus could prove instrumental in making the Oilers competitive. The urgency of the situation cannot be overstated; the team’s management must act swiftly and decisively to fortify their future.

To dive deeper into the strategic possibilities surrounding the Oilers’ off-season moves, you can LEARN MORE.

The Edmonton Oilers are light prospects and could target some college/European free agents

Allan Mitchell of The Athletic: The Edmonton Oilers are light on the prospects. They’ve had to trade draft picks, and it’s something that shouldn’t be seen as a negative. The Oilers might have offered up Matt Savoie and Sam O’Reilly and no teams were interested.

The Oilers should keep Savoie, who is ready to play in the NHL. He’s young and on a value contract. They need to hold on to O’Reilly as well.

Oilers 50-man list for next season shows a massive gap between “bona fide NHL player plus substantial prospects” and the “here’s hoping” also-rans. Edmonton is missing the “hell’s bells that’ll work” recalls. Management needs to get a wiggle on. https://t.co/TM8xSkGyqT

— Lowetide (@Lowetide) March 25, 2025

Trent Frederic was brought in and is a pending UFA. He hasn’t played yet but they should look to re-sign him.

NHL Rumors: Chicago Blackhawks Focused on Extending Ryan Donato

To help recoup some prospects, the Oilers should be looking to sign college and European free agents. Players that Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler have brought up are Grigori Kuzmin, Mac Gadowsky, and Marc Lajoie.

Oilers GM Stan Bowman on a Connor McDavid extension

Zach Laing of the Oilers Nations: Connor McDavid is eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1st and he’ll be getting a raise on his $12.5 million deal whenever he signs it. Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman isn’t concerned about it right now and notes that he has a good relationship with McDavid’s agent Judd Moldaver.

Bowman on Sportsnet’s After Hours on Saturday night.

“He’s the most important player we have here, so that is priority number one. We’ll get to that this summer. Now’s probably not the time to be talking about that, but we all know Connor is going to be here and that we’re going to make it happen.”

When McDavid’s contract extension would kick in, the salary cap ceiling could be in the $104 million range. His current deal has him at 15.72 percent of the cap, which would equate to $16.35 million at a $104 million cap.

NHL Rumors: Chicago Blackhawks, and the Edmonton Oilers

Bowman is confident a deal will get done: “Jed and I will have to get going on that on time there, but I’m confident we will.”

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