The Edmonton Oilers failed at the NHL deadline to address their biggest need, which is goaltending.
Oilers Should Have Been All In On Trading For Two-Time Stanley Cup Winner Bobrovsky
As all hockey fans know, the Oilers are a powerful Stanley Cup-contending team that has arguably the best player in forward Connor McDavid, who once again is having an MVP year.
Hoping that the third time is a charm, the Oilers, who over the past two springs have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals only to lose against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions Florida Panthers, made some moves at the deadline, but as mentioned above, not the one they should have made.
Leading up to this year’s deadline, the Oilers improved their defensive depth by making a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks for defenceman Connor Murphy. At the deadline, Edmonton made another deal with Chicago in obtaining forwards Jason Dickinson and Colton Dach.
With starting goalie Tristan Jarry struggling, the Oilers failed to trade for two-time Stanley Cup winner Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers who according to rumors was available for the right price.
Jarry, who back on December 12th 2025, was involved in a multi player deal which saw him come to Edmonton from the Pittsburgh Penguins, has gone 6-5-0-1 with a 3.96 GAA and a woeful .862 save percentage, which won’t get the job done if Edmonton hopes this year to win the Stanley Cup.
Bobrovsky, who is an Unrestricted Free Agent this summer, and at 37 years of age, might be past his prime but is used to excelling in high pressured playoff and international games.
With the Oilers core group consisting of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defenceman Evan Bouchard all in their primes, the time for winning is now and with all due respect to Jarry whose a respectable goalie, he has never won a Stanley Cup nor has the playing resume of Bobrovsky who is a future Hall of Famer.
Report About Friction Between Jarry and Oilers Teammates At Practice
According to Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts Podcast, there was a spat on Monday, March 9th during a morning practice between Jarry and some Oilers players.
“There’s a lot of talk out there about Jarry, got into it in practice with some of his teammates out there. It’s been a hard year for the Oilers,” Friedman said.
Meanwhile, Bob Stauffer from Oilers Now, also commented on the Oilers practice by stating,
“There’s some extraneous things that have me quite concerned with Tristan… I can read between the lines of what was going on the ice yesterday in practice. There seemed to be some (expletives) flying. I didn’t like that Jarry, when the Oilers lost 7-3 to Minnesota, talked about how the team is playing defensively in front of him.” Stauffer went on to add. “I watched him yesterday in practice, and he was getting beat in practice, and finally one of the leaders, you could see him (say), ‘You’ve got to puh more.’ And it’s both goalies. And that’s concerning.”
Golden Knights and Hurricanes Rumored To Be Among Favorites To Land Bobrovsky
Main Image: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
