Stan Bowman Faces Pressure After Frederic Deal Stings Oilers
stan bowman is taking heat for a run of Oilers moves that have not pushed Edmonton forward. The case for moving on from him this offseason starts with the team falling one win shy of the Stanley Cup in 2024-25 and then getting worse under his watch.
Frederic And Walman Costs
The clearest flashpoint is Trent Frederic’s eight-year, $30.8 million deal. Frederic finished with four goals and seven points in 74 games, then added four points in 22 playoff outings while sitting as a healthy scratch in two playoff games.
Jake Walman brought another heavy bill. Edmonton gave him a seven-year, $49 million extension before the 2025-26 season, but he averaged less than 19 minutes per game in the regular season and less than 17 minutes across six postseason outings. Those numbers leave the Oilers paying top-tier money without top-tier usage.
Bowman’s Deadline Moves
The criticism does not stop there. Bowman acquired Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round draft pick, claimed Kasperi Kapanen off waivers, signed Jack Roslovic, and then made a trade in December to try to fix the goaltending situation.
That December deal is the sharpest cut in the argument because it is described as “one of the worst trades in recent memory.” It also came after Bowman traded Stuart Skinner and Brett Kulak in the same month, another move that did not settle the roster problem he was trying to solve.
McDavid Window
The backdrop makes every misstep harder to ignore. Edmonton replaced Ken Holland with Bowman after the 2024-25 season, when the Oilers had their best roster in the Connor McDavid era and still came up one win short of the Cup. Connor Brown also left on a four-year, $12 million deal with the New Jersey Devils, taking another depth piece out of the picture.
Bowman’s tenure is being judged against a simple standard: the roster is supposed to support a Cup push, not shrink it. The Oilers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for a second straight year before the contract criticism hardened, but the mix of long-term money, limited usage, and the December goaltending swing has left little room for patience.
