Oilers’ Blue Line Is Nowhere Close to Stanley Cup Calibre

The Edmonton Oilers vowed to make changes this offseason, and they certainly have. Management has replaced Kris Knoblauch with Mike Babcock, traded Darnell Nurse, walked away from Connor Ingram, signed Frederik Andersen, traded for Devon Levi, and that’s just the start of it. Overall, it’s been a job well done by general manager (GM) Stan Bowman, a man fans wanted fired just a few short months ago.

While it’s a step in the right direction, many are still doubting that this team is the Stanley Cup contender they were just over one year ago. There is a possibility Bowman does look to do more before the 2026-27 season gets underway, but if he doesn’t, this isn’t a team who fans should expect to see back in the Stanley Cup Final.

Oilers Blue Line Has Arguably Gotten Worse

The Oilers headed into the offseason with one major goal in mind: trade Nurse. That was accomplished by Bowman, and was absolutely necessary to free up some cap space. While moving Nurse’s contract out was good, the Oilers have also lost a valuable member of their blue line in the process.

Despite the constant criticism surrounding Nurse, he was still one of the Oilers’ better all-around defencemen who could also play a ton of minutes. His presence on the back end will be missed, as Bowman wasn’t able to make any sort of upgrade after losing him.

The closest the Oilers got to replacing Nurse was by signing Ryan Shea to a five-year, $20 million deal. The 29-year-old had an impressive 2025-26 campaign, but prior to had never logged more than 39 games in a single NHL season. There appears to be a chance at regression here, especially given that the Oilers will almost certainly be counting on him to play more than the 18:53 he averaged with the Pittsburgh Penguins this past season.

Of course, it needs to be said that there have always been blue line concerns in Edmonton. They’ve been able to get by that in the past by having one of the best top pairings available in Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard. The latter remains elite, but Oilers fans would be the first to admit that Ekholm appeared to have lost a step in 2025-26.

The back end also features Jake Walman, who struggled throughout the 2025-26 campaign despite averaging less than 19 minutes per game. A bounce-back season isn’t necessarily out of the question, though it’s also very possible that what we saw in 2025-26 is simply the best Walman has to give.

One positive move the Oilers made on the back end this offseason was re-signing Connor Murphy, who was very solid after being acquired at the trade deadline. Bringing him back and re-signing Shea wasn’t enough to give this team the push it needs.

Essentially, the Oilers are running back the same blue line from last season aside from swapping out Nurse for Shea. Given their careers to this point, most would suggest that Nurse, despite his contract, is the better player. The Oilers, to their credit, were also able to land Shakir Mukhamadullin from the Sharks, though he projects to be nothing more than a bottom-pairing blueliner for this coming season.

Tough to Adjust Roster in Salary Cap Era

As mentioned at the start of this article, Bowman has done a good job with the Oilers this offseason. He was able to move on from Nurse which few believed he could, and he also improved his team’s goaltending. It’s hard to envision these improvements being enough to get the Oilers the Stanley Cup they’ve been longing for.

It’s never easy to count out a team that boasts Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and there’s no denying this team is better than where they were months ago. Their blue line, an Achilles’ heel, has gotten worse, and unless Bowman is able to improve it ahead of the playoffs, it’s difficult to see the Oilers going on a lengthy run given how deep some other teams in the Western Conference are.