- Stan Bowman calls an Oilers PTO “not the worst idea” without promising one
- Four Edmonton players are already ruled out for training camp
- Read below for how a four-game preseason shapes the tryout math
Stan Bowman didn’t slam the door on a professional tryout. He just made it sound like a long shot.
The Oilers general manager called the idea of adding a veteran on a PTO “not the worst idea” during an appearance on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer, then spent the rest of the answer laying out why Edmonton probably won’t go there.
“We’re not overflowing with players, but we also don’t have a shortage of players,” Bowman said, per OilersNation. “We’re in that mode where yeah, we probably could try to bring a guy in on a tryout, not the worst idea.”
Edmonton is short bodies, which is why anyone is asking in the first place. The team announced last week that goaltender Frederik Andersen, forwards Mattias Janmark and Matt Savoie, and defenseman Alec Regula will all miss camp.
Stauffer had floated the tryout idea on his own the day those injuries came out, pointing to the penalty kill as the hole Savoie and Janmark leave behind.
Names are not the problem. Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Laine are still unsigned in September, and so are Michael Bunting, Evander Kane and Adam Henrique.
Bowman’s hesitation is about the calendar. The NHL cut the preseason to four games this year, and he figures the main roster eats up two of them.
“You could get to know them a bit, watch them practice, but it’s a tough year for that,” Bowman said. “I wouldn’t rule it out, I just think that I wouldn’t be waiting for the news to break that we’re adding new players.”
This isn’t new ground for the franchise. Sam Gagner turned a 2023 camp invite into a one-year deal and 28 games. Travis Dermott did the same in 2024 and lasted 10 games before waivers took him to Minnesota.
Alex Chiasson remains the best version of it. He signed off a 2018 tryout and scored 22 goals.
Bowman said his phone has not stopped since the market thinned out.
“I’ve had a lot of inbound calls the last few days here,” he said. “Agents are working hard.”
He’s taking the calls. He just isn’t promising a signing.
