With their sixth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, the Edmonton Oilers selected goaltender Daniel Salonen from Finnish club Rauman Lukko.
𝐒𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐤𝐬𝐢 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐇𝐋-𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐬
Viime kaudella U20 SM-sarjan parhaaksi maalivahdiksi ja pelaajaksi valittu Daniel Salonen varataan kuudennella kierroksella numerolla 191. Edmonton Oilersiin.
Isot onnittelut, Dannu!#Lukko #Liiga #NHLDraft… pic.twitter.com/b7qSou9f6S
— Rauman Lukko (@TeamRaumanLukko) June 28, 2025
There isn’t much information out there on Salonen, who wasn’t ranked by any major scouting services coming into this summer’s draft. Born in December of 2005, this was the second year of draft eligibility for Salonen. He’s listed at 6-foot-3 and catches right-handed.
Born in Espoo, Finland, Salonen split the 2024-25 season between Lukko’s U20 team and on loan with Hokki in Finland’s second-highest professional league, known as Mestis.
Salonen was dominant at the U20 level last season. He posted a 23-1-0 record with a .933 save percentage for Lukko during the regular season and then went 9-2 in the playoffs with a .911 save percentage. In eight games at the pro level, Salonen went 4-3-1 with a .909 save percentage.
This is the second year in a row that the Oilers used a draft pick on a Finnish goaltender. Last year, they selected Eemil Vinni in the second round at 64th overall. Edmonton also used a sixth-round pick on goaltender Nathaniel Day in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage of one of the biggest days in the calendar — the Daily Faceoff Live Free Agency Special goes live on July 1st at 11 AM EST. Host Tyler Yaremchuk is joined by Carter Hutton, Matthew Barnaby, Jeff Marek, Hart Levine, Colby Cohen, Jonny Lazarus, and insiders from across the Network for three hours of in-depth analysis, live reactions, and real-time updates on every major signing and trade. From blockbuster deals to under-the-radar moves, we’re breaking it all down as it happens. Don’t miss a minute — catch the full special live on DailyFaceoff.com and Daily Faceoff’s YouTube.
One of the worst-kept secrets in hockey is that the Edmonton Oilers are looking at the market for goaltending.
They’ve seemingly been in the mix for years, connected to a plethora of names but perhaps none more frequent than John Gibson, who was dealt from the Anaheim Ducks to the Detroit Red Wings Saturday for backup netminder Petr Mrazek and a pair of picks. It’s eliminated at least one option from the market for the team, while another in pending restricted free agent Joel Hofer, who was extended by the Blues not long after.
It’s not a robust market, with few goaltenders available who could potentially provide upgrades and the free agent class offering even fewer.
And while Oilers general manager Stan Bowman and his staff are continuing to evaluate their options, he said one of them could be bringing back both of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.
“Part of the evaluation is (with) the guys that we have, does it make the most sense to keep this group?” he said. “And that’s certainly a possibility. We’re not at the point where we’re saying we’re definitely bringing in new goalies.”
The evaluation, he said, is about determining whether or not any external options are upgrades over what they have.
“It’s just evaluating how can we do something that’s going to make our team better, and when we find that sweet spot that we think makes sense, the price is right, the player’s the right player, then we’ll move,” he said. “It’s going to be a process that we’re going to go through. I don’t think we’re going to come to one decision tomorrow or the next day.
“It’s really taking in the information, and eventually we’re going to settle on the thing that we think makes the most sense.”
The Oilers goaltending has been good enough to get them deep in the playoffs for two straight seasons — Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and Game 6 this year — but it hasn’t been enough to get them over the hump.
Over the last two runs, Skinner has appeared in 38 games, posting a 21-16 record, a .896 save percentage and a 2.66 goals against average, while Pickard has appeared in 13, starting eight, with a 8-2 record, a .892 save percentage and a 2.72 goals against average.
Pickard had to enter the crease for the Oilers in the 2024 playoffs for two games against the Vancouver Canucks when Skinner wavered, while this year, he had a run of seven straight wins against the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights before being injured. While Skinner stepped back in playing well, Pickard had a relief performance in Game 3 and 4 of the the Stanley Cup Final, before starting Game 5.
Edmonton’s inability to trust one netminder over the other in the playoffs isn’t something that’s often seen in the playoffs, and has been something many have pointed to as a reason the Oilers need to find an answer, one way or the other.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at [email protected].
Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage of one of the biggest days in the calendar — the Daily Faceoff Live Free Agency Special goes live on July 1st at 11 AM EST. Host Tyler Yaremchuk is joined by Carter Hutton, Matthew Barnaby, Jeff Marek, Hart Levine, Colby Cohen, Jonny Lazarus, and insiders from across the Network for three hours of in-depth analysis, live reactions, and real-time updates on every major signing and trade. From blockbuster deals to under-the-radar moves, we’re breaking it all down as it happens. Don’t miss a minute — catch the full special live on DailyFaceoff.com and Daily Faceoff’s YouTube.
The Edmonton Oilers and Evan Bouchard’s camp have been laying the groundwork over the weekend for a new contract for the restricted free agent defenceman, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Sunday.
And the new deal, he said, could be coming in with a lower annual dollar amount than had been expected.
“There seems to be a lot of confidence over the weekend they’re going to get this sorted out,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast. “I wonder if it’s going to be around four times $9.5-million — that’s just numbers that were being thrown around here. We’ll see, but there seems to be a lot of confidence it’s going to get worked out.”
All the talk around Bouchard’s next deal has been that it would be one paying him eight figures, but Friedman’s report is the first that’s suggested a number below that. But a reason for that is the term of the deal.
Much of the smoke has been that there would be a long-term extension — likely for eight-years — locking Bouchard up as a key cog in the engine that drives this team. A four-year deal is likely part of the reason for that dip in what his cap hit could be.
After all, salary cap prognosticators like Evolving Hockey and AFP Analytics have had Bouchard projected for an eight-year term — the former suggesting a $10.61-million cap hit, the latter a $10.887— million cap hit.
Going shorter term will have its risks for the team. It will walk Bouchard to unrestricted free agency, opening a window for him to potentially leave and sign with another club. There’s also the fact that whatever deal follows this would be for significantly more money. That, of course, is to Bouchard’s benefit, but with a salary cap set to rise to $113.5-million by 2027-28 and with contracts for elite defencemen like Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes set to expire before then, a new benchmark will be made for the upper-echelon of blue liners.
What plays to Edmonton’s benefit in a shorter-term deal is that it helps the team save some money in the short term. While roughly $1-million to $1.5-million in savings may not seem like a lot with the salary cap set for $95.5-million next season, every penny counts for a team like the Oilers strapped to the cap.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid was vocal in his final press conference of the season about getting Bouchard extended, saying it’s “definitely a deal that needs to get done.”
General manager Stan Bowman, meanwhile, said he spoke with Bouchard’s agent, Dave Gagner, earlier last week.
“I had a meeting with Dave earlier and we’ve begun the negotiations. So I think that’s kind of all I really want to say,” Bowman said. “Certainly think Bouch is a great player, had an excellent year.
“He’s a big part of this and we’re going to work through it timing wise. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. It’s two sides and we’re both trying to do what we can we think makes the most sense. I’m not going to be giving the day by day update on the negotiations. It’s like anything else. It’s a process we go through, but we’ve had good discussions and we’ll just keep working at it.”
Bowman went on to say the Oilers were open to different types of contracts.
“We’re open to a bunch of different ideas. I don’t think you can go into a negotiation with just one position. It makes it much more difficult to get a deal done,” he said. “There’s two sides and they both have things they want to accomplish. I think you have to be willing to listen and have different ideas and that’s what we’re doing at this point. It’s tough to say where it will end up, but we’re not going in with just one idea. We’re open minded.”
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at [email protected].
Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage of one of the biggest days in the calendar — the Daily Faceoff Live Free Agency Special goes live on July 1st at 11 AM EST. Host Tyler Yaremchuk is joined by Carter Hutton, Matthew Barnaby, Jeff Marek, Hart Levine, Colby Cohen, Jonny Lazarus, and insiders from across the Network for three hours of in-depth analysis, live reactions, and real-time updates on every major signing and trade. From blockbuster deals to under-the-radar moves, we’re breaking it all down as it happens. Don’t miss a minute — catch the full special live on DailyFaceoff.com and Daily Faceoff’s YouTube.
The Edmonton Oilers have parted ways with pro scout Zack Kassian after just one year, Oilersnation can confirm.
The news was first reported by Shawn Belle of the Hello Hockey podcast.
Kassian, 34, joined the Oilers front office after retiring from pro hockey ahead of last season, working out of the Ontario region. It marked the former rough and tumble wingers first foray into the other side of the hockey world following a 12-year NHL career.
Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 13th overall in the 2009 draft, Kassian broke into the league in the 2011-12 season, but would play just 27 games for the team before he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Cody Hodgson. He would remain in Vancouver for three more seasons, scoring 32 goals and 59 points in 171 games, before he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens on July 1st, 2015.
Kassian, however, would never play for the Habs as he entered the league’s substance abuse program after being a passenger in a car accident in which he was under the influence, suffering a broken foot in the crash. He would exit the program in December 2015, and was traded to the Oilers just after Christmas for netminder Ben Scrivens.
He would spend seven years with the Oilers, scoring 55 goals and 135 points across 412 games, quickly becoming a fan favourite, especially for his physical play in the 2017 playoffs. Kassian found himself riding shotgun on Connor McDavid’s wing in the 2019-20 season, and during a 44-game run between the start of the season and late January, he would score 13 goals and 28 points, culminating with dramatics against the Calgary Flames with Matthew Tkachuk.
The Oilers would sign Kassian to a four-year contract extension carrying a $3.2-million cap hit, but Kassian struggled to live up to the deal, scoring eight goals and 24 points in 85 games across the following two seasons. He was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in a salary dump in July 2022, where Kassian played for one season before they bought out the final year of his contract. Kassian would play eight games for HC Sparta Praha in 2023-24 before retiring.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at [email protected].
Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage of one of the biggest days in the calendar — the Daily Faceoff Live Free Agency Special goes live on July 1st at 11 AM EST. Host Tyler Yaremchuk is joined by Carter Hutton, Matthew Barnaby, Jeff Marek, Hart Levine, Colby Cohen, Jonny Lazarus, and insiders from across the Network for three hours of in-depth analysis, live reactions, and real-time updates on every major signing and trade. From blockbuster deals to under-the-radar moves, we’re breaking it all down as it happens. Don’t miss a minute — catch the full special live on DailyFaceoff.com and Daily Faceoff’s YouTube.
After watching the Los Angeles Kings pluck Corey Perry in free agency, the Edmonton Oilers are now losing another depth piece as Connor Brown has signed a deal with the Devil(s).
Sportsnet’s Gene Principe was first to report the deal, which will see Brown earn $3-million annually in New Jersey.
Brown, 31, joined the Oilers ahead of the 2023-24 season on a one-year, $775,000 deal that carried a $3.225-million signing bonus, making a return to the NHL after suffering a torn ACL the year prior. He struggled to get his legs underneath him, scoring just five assists in his first 54 games of the year. He finally got on the board with his first goal of the year in Game 56 and turned a corner. He would score four goals and seven points in the final 17 games of the regular season, going on to add another two goals and six points in 19 playoff games.
Entering this season, Brown was clearly healthy and put together a strong season, scoring 13 goals and 30 points in 82 games, adding five goals and nine points in 20 playoff games. Brown contributed at the rate of a third-to-fourth line tweener, according to HockeyViz, driving offence at a one percent rate above league average, defence at a league average rate, and penalty kill play at a five percent rate above league average.
Salary cap prognosticators Evolving Hockey projected Brown to sign a three-year deal carrying a $2.165-million cap hit if he remained in Edmonton, while AFP Analytics projected him to sign a three-year deal carrying a $2.920-million cap hit.
With the Oilers tight to the salary cap — even after trading Viktor Arvidsson to the Bruins earlier Tuesday — the team didn’t have the ability to meet the contract Brown has signed. Now, the team will look to pivot and see what is out there in the free agent market to help fill out their bottom-six.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at [email protected].
Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage of one of the biggest days in the calendar — the Daily Faceoff Live Free Agency Special goes live on July 1st at 11 AM EST. Host Tyler Yaremchuk is joined by Carter Hutton, Matthew Barnaby, Jeff Marek, Hart Levine, Colby Cohen, Jonny Lazarus, and insiders from across the Network for three hours of in-depth analysis, live reactions, and real-time updates on every major signing and trade. From blockbuster deals to under-the-radar moves, we’re breaking it all down as it happens. Don’t miss a minute — catch the full special live on DailyFaceoff.com and Daily Faceoff’s YouTube.
One of the unique, and unexpected, trends over the past few seasons in the NHL has seen 100-point teams miss the playoff the following season.
It has happened 10 times over the past three seasons. Will that trend continue in the 2025-26 season?
Let’s take a quick look at the past three years.
2022
Calgary had 111 points, St. Louis 109, Pittsburgh 103 and Washington had 100 points.
They all missed the playoff in 2023.
St. Louis had a 28-point decrease (109-81), Washington lost 20 points (100-80), Calgary dipped by 19 (111 to 93) and Pittsburgh dipped by 12 (103-91).
Nashville was the other playoff team in 2022 who missed the playoffs in 2023, and they had the smallest decrease of five points from 97 to 92.
The Blues drop was unexpected as they had essentially the same core group of players. They just struggled.
Calgary’s drop was mainly due to losing Johnny Gaudreau in free agency and trading Matthew Tkachuk for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar.
Washington replaced both their goalies in 2023, but Darcy Kuemper and Charlie Lindgren had basically the same Sv% and GAA in 2023 that Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov had in 2022. John Carlsson got injured and missed half the season, and then Washington traded Dmitri Orlov when the season was lost.
Pittsburgh changed out Mike Matheson and John Marino and brought in Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta. They didn’t lose any of their top forwards or goalies. They just allowed 35 more goals and scored 14 fewer.
2023
New Jersey had 112 points, Minnesota had 103 and Seattle 100.
They all missed the dance in 2024.
The Devils dropped 31 points (112-81), Seattle had a 19-point decrease (100-81), and Minnesota dropped 16 points (103-87).
New Jersey opted to go with young D-men in Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec while shipping out Marino and Damon Severson. That combined with their goalies (Vanecek and Akira Schmid) both struggling after solid 2023 seasons led to the dip. Also, Jack Hughes missed 20 games.
Seattle had the utopian season in 2023. Their fourth line of Daniel Sprong, Ryan Donato and Morgan Geekie combined for 44 goals. All their forwards contributed, and they basically won by outscoring teams as Martin Jones went 27-13-3 despite having a .887Sv% and 2.99 GAA. They came back to reality in 2024 but also traded or didn’t re-sign their entire fourth line. Geekie and Donato have been very productive since leaving.
Minnesota is an odd case. They scored more goals in 2024 and had a better power player. Their 5×5 play had them +4 in GF-GA in 2023 and -5 in 2024. Not a massive difference, but it was their penalty kill that killed them. They allowed 46 goals in 256 kills in 2023 but saw a 45% increase allowing 67 goals on 263 kills in 2024. I wonder how much of a factor advanced scouting was.
In 2023, Filip Gustavsson was outstanding posting a 2.10 GAA and .931Sv% in 37 starts. In 2024 he had a 3.06 GAA and .899Sv% in 45 starts. He actually faced a lower number of HD chances in 2024 than he did in 2023 but gave up more goals. I’d have to dig deeper to find if opposing shooters exploited one or two specific areas. The Wild’s offence was actually better in 2024 than in 2023, but they did allow 41 more goals against. They won seven fewer games in 2024 than 2023 and they had seven fewer one-goal wins in 2024 than 2023. They didn’t win the close games as often.
2024
The New York Rangers led the NHL with 114 points, Boston and Vancouver each had 109.
They all missed the playoffs in 2025.
The Rangers dropped 29 points (114-85), Boston crashed by 33 points (109-76) and Vancouver lost 19 points (109-90).
Nashville was very close to being in the 100-point club to miss the next year as they had a 31-point dip (99-68), and the New York Islanders had a 12-point decrease (94-82).
The Rangers 29-point drop was quite interesting. Their GF-GA in 2025 was even at 255-255. They scored 23 fewer goals than in 2024 and allowed 29 more, which is a swing of 52 goals. Their biggest difference was they were 23-4 in one-goal games in 2024, but only 14-10 in 2025, and in blowout games of 3+ goals or more they were 17-17 in 2025 after going 24-14 in 2024. Igor Shesterkin’s GAA (2.86 to 2.58) and Sv% (.905 to .913) were slightly worse, but if you look deeper, he actually had a better goal saved above expected in 2025, so it wasn’t goaltending.
The Rangers created their own drama when GM, Chris Drury, sent out an email to rival GMs saying Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider were available. When that news went public, the Rangers spiraled. The Rangers were 12-6-1, and in 7th place in the NHL, but a 6-2 loss in Edmonton on November 23rd led to Drury’s infamous email. The Rangers went 27-30-6 (25th in NHL) after the news went public. Trouba was traded a few weeks later, and Krieder was dealt this summer, both to Anaheim, but no doubt the news the GM wanted to trade two of their most popular players impacted the Blueshirts.
Boston crashed out, because goaltending couldn’t save them like they did in 2024. Linus Ullmark was traded to Ottawa and Jeremy Swayman held out. Missing training camp and preseason never allowed him to get on track. The Bruins allowed 50 more goals in 2025 and scored 41 fewer goals. A 91-goal swing from 2024 to 2025 illustrated how weaker they were in every aspect of the game. David Pastrnak was the only bright light as he produced 106 points after scoring 110 in 2024. Can the Bruins rebound this season?
The Canucks were similar to the Rangers with internal drama. The JT Miller/Elias Pettersson saga finally came to a head as Miller was traded to the Rangers. The Canucks opted to keep Pettersson and we’ll see if that was the right decision. He produced a paltry 45 points (in 64 GP) while making $11.5m last year. Thatcher Demko was injured, but in the 23 games he played he wasn’t good. The Canucks had a +58 GF-GA differential in 2024 to being -18 in 2025. It is surprising they only dropped 19 points in the standings with a negative 76 goal differential.
Many incorrectly declared Nashville the “summer winner” last year in free agency. They signed Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, but it didn’t lead to success. The Predators scored 44 fewer goals and allowed 26 more. Gustav Nyqvist went from a 0.93 point-per-game (PPG) player down to 0.37. Filip Forsberg dropped from 94 points to 76. Roman Josi’s offence dropped by 0.32 PPG and he missed 29 games with injury. They traded Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay in the summer, Alexander Carrier (after 28 games) to Montreal, Jeremy Lauzon missed 50 games and Josi 29. The D corps struggled, their backup goalies’ (Justus Annunen/Scott Wedgewood) had much worse numbers than Kevin Lankinen did in 2024. Juuse Saros’ GAA did go up a bit to 2.98 from 2.86, but he wasn’t the issue.
The Islanders 12-point drop was solely on their offence. They scored 23 fewer goals. They actually allowed one less goal in 2025 than they did in 2024. Their PP was dreadful last season at 12.6%, and even worse at 8.7% net because they allowed eight shorthanded goals. They were only +18 on the PP after being +44 in 2024. Fix their power play and they will likely contend for a Wildcard spot again.
Who will miss in 2026?
Which 100-point teams will miss the playoffs next season. While we have seen fewer 100-point teams the past few seasons; 13 in 2022, to 12 in 2023, 10 in 2024 to nine last year, the % of 100-point teams to miss the playoffs the following season was 30.7% in 2023, 25% in 2024 and 30% in 2025. Nashville missing at 99 points made it 36.3% of teams with 99+ points in 2024 to miss in 2025. If that trend continues, we could see two or three 100-point teams miss it this season.
Here’s a reminder of the candidates.
New Jersey and Montreal grabbed the final two playoff spots in the East with 91 points.
In the past three seasons, the 10 teams with 100+ points who missed the playoffs the following year had an average decrease in points of 22.9. The largest being 33 and the fewest 16.
Of those nine teams, who changed the most thus far?
Winnipeg signed Jonathon Toews, Gustav Nyqvist and Tanner Pearson. They lost Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton and Rasmus Kupari. They struggled in the playoffs again, mainly Connor Hellebuyck.
Washington added Declan Chisholm and Justin Sourdif and removed Andrew Mangiapane, Dylan McIlrath and Lars Eller.
Vegas added Mitch Marner, Colton Scissons and Jeremy Lauzon. They are without Nic Hague, Tanner Pearson and Alex Pietrangelo (bilateral femur reconstruction).
Toronto added Nicolas Roy, Mattias Maccelli and Michael Pezzetta. They are without Marner, Pontus Holmberg and Max Pacioretty (still unsigned).
Dallas hasn’t added any new players yet. They have a new head coach in Glen Gulutzan. They moved out Mason Marchment, Evgenii Dadonov and Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci, but the latter were trade deadline acquisitions. They will have Mikko Rantanen for the full season, so that is a significant regular season addition.
L.A. added Joel Armia, Corey Perry, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg and Ceci. They are without Vladislav Gavrikov, Jordan Spence, Tanner Jeannot, Trevor Lewis, Samuel Helenius and David Rittich.
Tampa Bay added Holmberg and Jacob Pelletier and are without Luke Glendening and Cam Atkinson.
Colorado made many in-season moves last year. Even though they traded Rantanen late in the year, I still view him as a departure. Martin Necas replaced him, but it is a downgrade. They also have Gabriel Landeskog and Brock Nelson for a full season. They also traded Charlie Coyle (trade deadline acquisition) and Miles Wood to Columbus to free up cap space. They did add Brent Burns on the blueline.
Edmonton added Andrew Mangiapane, David Tomasek, Curtis Lazar and rookie Matt Savoie will get a look. Trent Frederic only played seven minutes in the regular season last year, so I view him as new as well. They are without Evander Kane (only played in playoffs), Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Viktor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner and John Klingberg.
Those are the nine teams who had 100 points. Carolina (99) and Florida (98) were close, so if you want to pick one of them, I will allow it.
It is challenging to think of a 100-point team dropping that much, but it’s happened regularly and with the volatility of the NHL I can see it happening again.
L.A. would be my first pick. They got older and overpaid for veterans. Darcy Kuemper was amazing last season with a career-low 2.02 GAA. His career average is 2.54. He’s poised to regress a bit.
I will go with Tampa Bay. They are getting older; they’ve made the playoffs eight years in a row and are due. I don’t have a great reason other than that. It leads to them making a coaching change.
Washington had the Ovechkin goal-chase, and they scored 70 more goals in 2025 than they did in 2024 and allowed 33 less. I really like their head coach, Spencer Carbury, and how he implemented the triangle offence last season, but they seemed to have everything go right last year, and since I have to pick a third team, I’ll go with them.
Who would you pick and why?
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When Tommy Lafrenière heard his name called in the third round of the 2025 NHL draft, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Getting drafted in the Edmonton Oilers organization — one with superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — is something he never imagined.
Lafrenière notched 24 goals and 32 assists for 56 points in 68 games during the 2024-25 WHL season, finishing fourth among Blazers skaters and second among all WHL rookies in scoring.
The 18-year-old will return to Kamloops this fall for another WHL season, one he hopes to dominate. Lafrenière made noticeable strides throughout the season and, at times, was Kamloops’ most impactful player, arguably the top rookie in the WHL.
As the season wore on, his game only continued to get better. Lafrenière recorded 14 multi-point outings and delivered in clutch moments, setting up several game-winning goals. Lafrenière is a must-watch player and has the ability to be a game-changer.
With a creative touch, a nose for the net, and a flashy play style, Lafrenière possesses the kind of offensive toolkit that jumps off the page for a player of his size. According to sources, Lafrenière was considered for Canada’s Under-18 team this past spring but was ultimately left off the roster, something that will light a fire under him to get an invite to Canada’s World Junior team.
An NHL Central Division scout echoed that sentiment: “Think of a smaller Nick Suzuki.”
That’s a comparison Lafrenière himself would welcome. In an interview with Blazer Hockey last season, he cited Suzuki and Brayden Point as players he models his game after: “Guys with strong hockey IQ and playmaking ability.”
Lafrenière becomes just the seventh player in Kamloops Blazers history to be drafted by the Oilers, joining Devan Dubnyk, Roman Tesliuk, and Max Gordichuk, all selected in the 2004 NHL Draft.
As for the Oilers, they like what they saw in Lafrenière,
READ MORE
- Here’s when the Oilers need to sign each of their drafted prospects
- How experts graded the 2025 NHL Draft for the Edmonton Oilers
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The NHLPA announced Saturday that 11 players filed for salary arbitration, leaving a long list of players still eligible for offer sheets.
Among those who did elect — and are no longer offer sheet eligible — are Anaheim Ducks netminder Lukas Dostal, Winnipeg Jets winger Gabriel Vilardi, and Toronto Maple Leafs winger Nick Robertson.
Eleven players have elected for salary arbitration according to @NHLPA.
Deadline for club elected salary arbitration is Sunday evening. pic.twitter.com/F2Lxclqn38
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 5, 2025
But there’s some big names who declined to elect for arbitration, and potentially none bigger than Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish, Buffalo Sabres defenceman Bowen Byram and Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Cam York.
Byram’s name has been floating around for some time now, as the Sabres have fielded trade calls from around the league. The 6’1″, 205 lb. left-shot blue liner just finished his first full season in Buffalo, racking up seven goals and 38 points in 82 games played.
The 24-year-old was acquired by the team ahead of the 2024 trade deadline in a one-for-one swap with the Colorado Avalanche, who picked up Casey Mittelstadt in the deal. Byram has appeared in 246 NHL games scoring 33 goals and 110 points. Evolving Hockey predicts if Byram were to accept an offer sheet, the most likely deal would be a two-year, $5.35-million AAV contract.
McTavish,just finished his third full season in the NHL, setting career highs in goals, assists and points, with 22, 30 and 52, respectively. Drafted by the Ducks third overall in the 2021 draft, the 22-year-old put up 60 goals and 140 points in 229 games over parts of four seasons. Evolving Hockey predicts an offer sheet would be a six-year deal paying McTavish $6.683-million annually.
York, meanwhile, put up four goals and 17 points last year, a down year offensively from the 10 goal, 30 point season he had in 2023-24. Drafted by the Flyers 14th overall in the 2019 draft, the 24-year-old has appeared in 235 NHL games, scoring 19 goals and 77 points. Evolving Hockey predicts an offer sheet would be for three years with a $4.399-million AAV.
While all three remain eligible for offer sheets, it’s hard to imagine one coming for any of the three. According to PuckPedia, the Sabres have $13.64-million in cap space, the Ducks $28.98-million and the Flyers have $5.52-million. In the Flyers’ case, that doesn’t additional space they could get when they place defenceman Ryan Ellis on the Long-Term Injured Reserve.
News and notes…
- The Columbus Blue Jackets avoided arbitration with forward Dmitri Voronkov, signing him Saturday to a two-year, $4.175-million AAV deal. He’s appeared in 148 games for the Blue Jackets, scoring 41 goals and 81 points, and had 23 goals and 47 points in 73 games last year.
- Another team and its player avoided arbitration, as the Montreal Canadiens signed goaltender Jakub Dobes to a two-year, $965,000 AAV contract. Drafted by the Habs in the fifth round of the 2020 draft, he seemingly came out of nowhere last year, posting a 7-4-3 record across 16 games for the Canadiens, carrying a .909 save percentage and a 2.74 goals against average.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at [email protected].
ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365
Though the 2025 NHL off-season thus far has been rather uneventful compared to summers of the past, the Edmonton Oilers have nevertheless made multiple changes to their roster, particularly (and almost exclusively) towards their forward core. Their most notable move is the signing of 29-year-old forward Andrew Mangiapane.
Many Oilers fans should recall Mangiapane from his days in Calgary, where he played the first seven seasons of his NHL career as a Flame. He remarkably put up a 35-goal season in 2021-22. Then, in the 2024 off-season, he was dealt to the Washington Capitals for a second-round pick, playing exactly one season for the team before ultimately signing with the Oilers during the current free agency period.
This summer, several notable forwards have left the Oilers organization through trade or free agency, such as Viktor Arvidsson, Evander Kane, Corey Perry, and Connor Brown. It is likely that Jeff Skinner will be signing with a different team as well. On the other hand, aside from depth signings Curtis Lazar and SHL forward David Tomasek, Mangiapane is the only notable new face on the Oilers’ forward core. While prospect Matthew Savoie is expected to be a lock in the Oilers’ top-nine, there will still be significant pressure on Mangiapane to make up for a lot of the secondary scoring that the Oilers lost this off-season.
So, how impactful can Mangiapane be, and where does he fit best on the Oilers? Let’s take a closer look.
Firstly, we’ll begin by diving into some career timelines of Mangiapane’s results. Here are his year-by-year production rates at 5-on-5.
Mangiapane steadily improved his 5v5 production rates year-by-year over his first four full seasons with the Flames until his best season in 2021-22, in which he averaged an excellent rate of 2.44 points per hour. That would approximately be low-end top-line level. This was also the season in which Mangiapane scored 35 goals, 23 of them at 5v5, which was more than both Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid’s 5v5 totals (!) that year.
Some may argue that Mangiapane was on an unsustainable shooting percentage heater that season, as he held an 18.9 percent SH%. Fair point. Still, his SH% in his prior two seasons remained at a very strong 17.5%. Based on the available data at that point in time, it was quite reasonable to deduce that he was an excellent shooter, nevertheless. Perhaps he wouldn’t score 35 goals again, but expecting ~25-30 goals was not unreasonable at all.
However, it seems that 2021-22 was Mangiapane’s peak, as he gradually declined more and more in every season since. In his most recent season with the Capitals, Mangiapane averaged just 1.3 points per hour, well below the rate of a typical top-six forward.
To dive even deeper, let’s take a look at Mangiapane’s overall on-ice impacts offensively and defensively:
Offensively, Mangiapane’s scoring breakthrough may have only come in 2021-22, but for each of the first five seasons of his career, his impact on generating even-strength scoring chances ranged from very good to flat-out outstanding. The Flames consistently generated more shots and high-danger chances with Mangiapane on the ice. But, they began to decline in 2023-24, and in 2024-25 with the Capitals, they were only marginally above average.
Defensively, Mangiapane has been much more consistent. He had a rough season in that regard in 2022-23, but it seems to be a statistical outlier; otherwise, his defensive impacts have been excellent. This season, the Capitals allowed 1.75 goals against per hour with Mangiapane on-ice, while allowing 2.56 goals per hour without him, close to a full 50 percent decrease in goals against. While Mangiapane did play in a relatively limited role with the Capitals in 2024-25, it’s certainly worth noting that he led the Flames in percent of time-on-ice spent against elite competition from 2022-23 through 2023-24; he does have plenty of experience playing against the opposition’s best lines.
This further extends to his penalty-killing ability. While he was not a regular penalty-killer in Washington, he was consistently deployed there throughout his tenure with Calgary, as from 2021-22 through 2023-24, Mangiapane was on-ice for 5.8 goals and 5.6 expected goals against per hour on the PK, while the Flames allowed 6.7 goals and 7.3 expected goals per hour without Mangiapane on-ice. His net PK impact (measured using EvolvingHockey’s short-handed defence GAR model) ranked in the 72nd percentile among all forwards in that span.
All things considered, these are intriguing results. For the first half of his career, Mangiapane was a textbook “analytical darling.” The Flames controlled 57 percent of the total scoring chances with Mangiapane on-ice in that span, compared to 51 percent without him on-ice. But while his defensive impacts have generally remained consistent, his on-ice offensive impacts and production rates have gradually declined over the past three years.
Now, there are two key things to note about these results.
Firstly, there seems to be a significant correlation between Mangiapane’s declining offence and his shoulder injuries. Mangiapane underwent shoulder surgery after the 2022-23 season, and right after that surgery, Mangiapane’s offensive results all-around saw a dip. He went from averaging 1.11 goals and 8.05 shots per hour in the prior two seasons to just 0.56 goals and 5.39 shots per hour from 2023-24 through 2024-25. It certainly seems to explain why his defensive ability mainly remained intact, while his offence – especially his individual scoring – substantially regressed.
Furthermore, Mangiapane most commonly played in a bottom-six role with centre Lars Eller with the Capitals in 2024-25. And, there was a stark difference in his results with and without Eller as seen below.
It should be noted that, throughout his tenure in Calgary, Mangiapane primarily played with the Flames’ top centres, most notably Mikael Backlund and Elias Lindholm. The drop in his quality of teammates likely played a significant role in his overall subpar production rates with Washington, as his results in Calgary, combined with his results away from Eller in Washington, showcase there is legitimate offensive potential for him next to higher-calibre players.
So, with all of that in mind, I believe there are a couple of reasonable conclusions that can be made from these results.
Defensively, Mangiapane is extremely useful. His teams have consistently allowed fewer goals and scoring chances with Mangiapane on the ice, whether it’s at even strength or on the penalty kill, and in both a challenging top-six role and a limited bottom-six environment. Considering that many of Edmonton’s wingers who left this summer were below-average or even quite poor defensively, namely Evander Kane, Mangiapane seems to be a fresh breath of air in this regard. I believe this could make a significant difference in the playoffs.
However, the big question with Mangiapane is what his offensive impact will look like. Perhaps the answer lies in the middle of all of this; considering how his offensive rates and volume shooting immediately declined following his shoulder surgery, it’s reasonable to assume that we may not see the 35-goal Mangiapane from 2021-22 again. But considering his results without Eller, there still is genuine potential here.
Mangiapane seems to be a strong, versatile two-way complementary player. He may not be able to drive offence on his own in a bottom-six role, but his track record suggests that he can excel next to skill in a top-six role. For that reason, he should obtain consistent time next to Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, and you should expect a considerable rise in production.
Granted he stays healthy, it’s reasonable to project at least ~35-40 points, a 5v5 points/60 rate ranging around ~1.6-1.8, and excellent defence (both at EV and on the PK) from Mangiapane in 2024-25. These results would be well worth his cap hit.
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