Oilers dealt tough blow with Stan Bowman heavily involved
Dylan Holloway is the winger Kris Knoblauch and the Oilers can’t stop seeing in their summer mirror.
That is what makes this debate stick. Edmonton let Holloway walk on a 2-year offer sheet worth 4580914 total, with a 2290457 average annual value, and the bet already looks rough.
Stan Bowman explained the choice back in August as a move to protect Edmonton’s flexibility. He said the club did not want to limit its options, and that is fair in theory.
But this is where the hockey side bites back. Holloway was a former first-round pick, selected 14th overall by Edmonton in 2020, and he always looked like the kind of pace winger this roster could use beside elite centers.
Now the production is there too. Holloway finished 2025-26 with 22 goals and 51 points in 59 games for St. Louis, which is the kind of top-six push Edmonton spent too much of the year chasing elsewhere.
That is why this story keeps coming back. The Oilers were again talking about fixing the top six, finding more speed, and reshaping the roster, while one of their own answers was already gone.
Edmonton still had a decent regular season at 41-30-11. But 93 points and a 282-269 goal split are not the profile of a team that solved all its support issues around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
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Brutal Oilers setback puts Stan Bowman in the spotlight
The hard part for Edmonton is not just that Holloway broke out. It is that he broke out at a number the Oilers once decided they could not live with.
And now that number looks even smaller. Holloway’s next contract is already set at 5 years and 38750000, with a 7750000 cap hit starting next season. Edmonton lost the cheap years before the bigger bill arrived.
This is where regret gets real. Holloway gave St. Louis middle-six speed, finishing, and lineup flexibility at left wing or center, while Edmonton kept searching for cleaner fits around its stars.
It also sharpens the heat on management. Bowman owns the call now, but the franchise as a whole has to wear missing on a drafted player who was still only 24 this season.
None of this changes what Edmonton got back. The Oilers received a third-round pick as compensation when they declined to match the offer sheet. That is neat business on paper, but paper does not skate in your top six.
So yes, this one still stings. Dylan Holloway turned into the exact kind of player the Oilers needed more of, and Edmonton is left explaining why it saw flexibility where everyone else now sees a miss.
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MAY 2, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Logan Stankoven | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mike Reilly | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Denver Barkey | - | - | - | |
| Alex Bump | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Noah Cates | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Sean Couturier | - | - | - | |
| Jamie Drysdale | - | - | - | |
| Christian Dvorak | - | - | - | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | - | - | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | - | - | |
| Luke Glendening | - | - | - | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||