The pressure in Edmonton is palpable. After coming within one win of the Stanley Cup in 2024 and scripting another painful ending in 2025, the Oilers completely collapsed this season, getting eliminated in the first round by a younger and faster Anaheim Ducks team.
Now, the organization heads into a massive win-now offseason with serious questions surrounding the roster. With Edmonton expected to aggressively pursue upgrades, one NHL insider says the Oilers are “still looking into” a potential move for a $36 million All-Star goalie.
Oilers Not Done Chasing $36M Star
The player connected to Edmonton is St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, who has one year remaining on his six-year, $36 million contract. With Joel Hofer emerging as the Blues’ No. 1 goalie of the future, Binnington has become increasingly expendable in St. Louis.
While he carries a 10-team no-trade list, that isn’t expected to be a problem for Connor McDavid’s Team Canada teammate.
Goaltending was one of Edmonton’s biggest problem areas this season. General manager Stan Bowman openly admitted his gamble on Tristan Jarry failed badly after the veteran eventually lost the starting job. Meanwhile, backup Connor Ingram is headed toward free agency, leaving Edmonton with major uncertainty in net.
That’s why the Oilers appear intent on exploring the goalie market.
NHL insider Nick Kypreos also pointed out that Hofer enjoyed a breakout year while Binnington struggled during the regular season, finishing with a rough .873 save percentage despite impressing with Team Canada at the Olympics.
“Given how Joel Hofer stepped up this season, the Blues will continue to explore trading Jordan Binnington to allow the younger goalie to grow his role… I think the Oilers are still looking into this,” Kypreos reported.
He also noted that other teams, including the Florida Panthers, could enter the mix if Sergei Bobrovsky leaves in free agency this summer.
“It seems like the market for Binnington is beginning to grow again and that his future is not in St. Louis,” Kypreos added.
The Biggest Problem: Edmonton’s Cap Situation
Even if Edmonton wants Binnington, fitting his $6 million cap hit onto the roster will not be easy.
The Oilers currently project to have roughly $14.5 million in cap space, but taking on Binnington would leave them with less than $10 million to fill multiple roster spots. Edmonton also needs to rebuild its bottom-six depth and add another top-six winger.
That means Bowman cannot simply absorb Binnington’s contract without moving money out first.
If Edmonton seriously pursues Binnington, Tristan Jarry ($5.375 million cap hit) would almost certainly need to be included in the trade or moved elsewhere. If moving Jarry proves impossible, Darnell Nurse could become the next obvious trade candidate. His contract would free up more than enough cap space to bring Binnington to town.
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For now, it remains unclear whether the Oilers can realistically make the finances work, but it’s obvious they are still exploring every possible option to fix their biggest weakness. But if the Binnington trade doesn’t pan out, Edmonton can go bargain-bin hunting.
Buffalo’s Devon Levi and Detroit’s Sebastian Cossa are both expected to be available this summer, though neither of them appears cut out for a 1A role just yet, which means, if worse comes to worst, they might have to roll with Tristan Jarry and a backup and go big-game hunting at the trade deadline.
