Oilers goalie – With Connor McDavid’s era edging toward its later stages, Edmonton’s draft weekend feels less like celebration and more like a deadline. Stan Bowman has urgency around getting the Darnell Nurse deal done and securing a goalie—today if needed—before roster gaps
EDMONTON — Draft weekend for the Edmonton Oilers isn’t being treated like a fresh start. It’s being treated like a stop on a tightening clock.
Across the National Hockey League, teams are building lineups for what’s next. For Edmonton. the pressure isn’t about taking second-. third-. sixth- and seventh-round picks—if anything. it’s about how little room the organization believes it has left to fix major gaps before the next phase truly begins.
General manager Stan Bowman has framed the weekend around the same central worry: goaltending. In his view, the Oilers aren’t simply looking for one piece. They’re looking for the right one. Bowman. the plan goes. would trade those four picks “for the right goalie. ” and he would also move any of them to make a Darnell Nurse trade workable.
The Nurse situation is already in motion. and it’s the kind of situation that leaves no room for a slow back-and-forth. While general managers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have been mulling a Nurse trade as one option among others. Bowman has “set this thing in motion.” The deal still has to land. and Bowman’s urgency is clear: by July 1 he needs to know how much cap space he has.
That date matters because it affects what Bowman can do next. The longer the phone calls stretch. the more likely it becomes that the other side pauses—calls on other matters. waits for a clearer picture—before circling back. The message being heard on the other end is simple: “OK. I’ll make some calls on a few other things I have going. then I’ll get back to you. Maybe…”.
The problem for Edmonton is that patience may cost them. Bowman knows he can’t bring Nurse back into his dressing room this September. The Nurse deal has to be closed quickly enough to reshape the roster before the season starts—or risk turning a trade scenario into a straight-up roster problem.
So Bowman is also holding a second route open. The possibility of signing goalie Connor Ingram today is on the table for the right money, and the expectation being floated is that Ingram would be happy to return to Edmonton. The Mike Babcock hire is described as having “no bearing on his return.”
But Bowman is still hoping the trade market offers something bigger. That hope comes with risk, because the goalie market isn’t something you can force on your own schedule. If Bowman comes up empty in the trade market. there’s a real chance that Ingram could sign elsewhere—one destination mentioned is Ottawa—on July 1.
Goalie names circulating around Edmonton are numerous, and the list includes options that carry different kinds of confidence. Markstrom comes up as a big goalie that coach Mike Babcock likes. and the Oilers connection is part of the intrigue: the Oilers are the reason one name is in New Jersey in the first place. with him being “ventilating” out of Calgary between 2022 and 2024.
Danil Tarasov is described as standing at six-foot-five and being 27 years old. with a background that includes an NHL profile that remains largely unproven. He sits among the more intriguing unrestricted free agents. but the question being raised is stark: he has not even made 100 NHL starts and has played even a single playoff game.
Then there is Sebastien Cossa. who after three strong years on Detroit’s AHL affiliate is described as “ready for the NHL.” The worry here is about how much top-level time he has actually logged: at 23 years old. he has just 45 minutes of top-level action under his belt. The concern isn’t about talent. It’s about readiness for four rounds of playoff hockey.
Beyond those examples. the roster of potential fits stretches wide and long: Alex Lyon. Dennis Hildeby. Joonas Korpisalo. Anton Forsberg. Charlie Lindgren. Samuel Montembault. Jake Allen. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Philipp Grubauer. and Devin Cooley. The mention that “like the Calgary Flames would be willing to furnish Edmonton with its goalie” underscores the reality that even strong options can come down to one question—how willing other teams are to deal.
All of it circles back to the same issue: style. The Oilers’ problem has been described as giving up most of their chances off the rush. Under Babcock. the practical question is whether Edmonton can limit that—because even the best goaltender will be pulled into the same chaos if the defensive structure can’t change.
The coaching angle adds another layer. What kind of goalie is needed, and what kind of goalie is Babcock looking for?. There is also the matter of how involved Babcock is likely to be in the crease. Some head coaches defer to goalie coaches. Babcock is “said to be the latter. ” and his history is described in plain terms: being very hard on his ‘tendies.
In Edmonton, that history lands directly on the current situation in goal. Tristan Jarry is identified as the pressure point, along with whoever signs up for relegating Jarry to the backup job come playoff time.
There’s also a parallel drawn from Ottawa. Babcock’s assistant coach, D.J. Smith, is tied to an Ottawa bench where Smith presided over a situation that lost faith in Filip Gustavsson. Gustavsson went on to become a legit No. 1 in Minnesota, and the implication is that goalie development can swing hard depending on what the coaching staff expects.
For Bowman, then, draft weekend carries two certainties. First, the Nurse deal needs to be consummated by June 30, which is Tuesday. Second. unless Edmonton wants to risk bringing back the same tandem in goal—an unseemly reality for Oilers fans—Bowman needs to make progress on a goalie trade as well.
And once Nurse is dealt, the ripple effects don’t stop at goaltending. There’s also the left-shot D-man Bowman will need to replace Nurse. Then there’s depth winger UFA Kasperi Kapanen, listed as a factor if he moves along.
So the weekend may begin with pick numbers, but it ends with a far simpler question hanging over every phone call: will Edmonton secure a goalie in time—either by trade or by the kind of signature they can make today?
Edmonton Oilers Stan Bowman Darnell Nurse Connor Ingram Mike Babcock Tristan Jarry NHL Draft goalie trade June 30 deadline July 1 cap space