Biggest Oilers Free Agent Departures Will Hurt Big – Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have been busy this offseason, making several signings since free agency opened on July 1. The moves have created excitement among Edmonton fans, who are eager to see the likes of goaltender Frederik Andersen and defenseman Ryan Shea work with the Oilers.

But there can be no additions without departures, and the Oilers certainly said goodbye to a few veterans this summer. Here’s a look at three players who will be missed the most.

3) Curtis Lazar

Although Curtis Lazar has yet to sign with another NHL team, the veteran center does not appear to be in Edmonton’s plans for next season. After signing Mathieu Joseph and Eduards Tralmaks while re-signing Colton Dach and Max Jones, Edmonton now has more depth in the forwards than spots in the bottom six.

Someone will end up working like a 13-year-old Edmonton^th forward, but it is unlikely that they will be better than Lazar in filling that tricky role.

Appearing in 45 regular season games for the Oilers, Lazar led the team in faceoff percentage (61.2%), was one of Edmonton’s leading scorers (14.20 per 60 minutes), and had the lowest turnover rate (1.30 per 60 minutes) on the Oilers.

While recording only six points, Lazar checked well, played physically, rarely made a costly mistake, and did not commit turnovers. Perhaps most important was his team-first attitude. If he didn’t dress up for any game, Lazar would just roll with it. He had the ability to sit in the press box for a week, then return to the lineup without missing a beat.

2) Jack Roslovic

After one season in Edmonton, forward Jack Roslovic signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1.

Roslovic played 69 games with the Oilers in 2025-26, scoring 21 goals and recording 15 assists. He tied for the team lead with five game-winning goals, was third on the Oilers with five game-opening goals, and ranked fourth on the Edmonton Raiders with an average of 2.04 shots per game.

The 29-year-old institution may be gone for a long time. Including the playoffs, Roslovic had five separate streaks of at least six games without a goal. He was held to just one point — an assist — over six games in Edmonton’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But Edmonton will need to change his 21-goal output (expected to reach 25 over 82 full games), and that won’t come from any of the Oilers’ free additions: Joseph, Shea, and Tralmaks, who among them scored a total of eight goals in the NHL last season.

1) Connor Ingram

The Oilers spent the first half of last season trying to find a reliable goaltender, going from Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner to Tristan Jarry. But it was only Connor Ingram who proved that he can run with the ball once he gets it.

After being recalled from the American Hockey League (AHL) in mid-December, the veteran netminder has appeared in 32 of the Oilers’ last 46 games, going 16-10-3 with a 2.60 goals-against average (GAA) and a .899 save percentage (SV%).

By stabilizing the Oilers’ formation, Ingram helped Edmonton pick up enough points to finish second in the Pacific Division standings. He was recognized by being nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

SportsnetMark Spector reported that Ingram would have liked to stay with the Oilers. Edmonton, however, moved somewhere between the pipes, signing Andersen while reacquiring goaltender Devon Levi in ​​a trade with the Buffalo Sabers on July 1. Ingram is now an unrestricted free agent.

Oilers fans now have to hope that, between Andersen, Levi, and Jarry, Edmonton has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. However, there is no guarantee that any of those three will be better than Ingram.

Jarry couldn’t handle the mail last season, the 24-year-old Levi hasn’t played more than 23 games in an NHL season, and while Andersen won a championship with the Carolina Hurricanes last month, he watched the last two games of the Stanley Cup Final sitting on the bench after losing his first job following a poor performance.

How the Oilers will fill the void left by their former players is one of the many questions that will be answered when the 2026-27 NHL season begins at the end of September.