“There’s no silver lining to this,” said Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch after their second consecutive Stanley Cup loss against the Florida Panthers. Naturally, after trying to beat the Panthers twice with largely the same squad, changes were in order. “There will be changes to our system. We will be doing things a little bit differently…” said Coach Knoblauch.

“There’s a lot of conversations, a lot of analyzing…” he added. All that analysis has led to the Oilers making a bunch of additions to revamp their forward lines. NHL.com posted its projected Edmonton Oilers roster for the upcoming season, keeping those additions in mind. Yet, as familiar and new faces made up that lineup, the league also asked a crucial question.

“After back-to-back appearances in the #StanleyCup Final, will 2025-26 be the year the @EdmontonOilers get the job done?” asked NHL.com. The new lineup consisted of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl, Vasily Podkolzin, Trent Frederic, Adam Henrique, Matt Savoie, Mattias Janmark, Kasperi Kapanen, in the forwards group.

The Edmonton Oilers also included the team’s latest additions, Andrew Mangiapane and Isaac Howard. Meanwhile, the defensive and goaltending lineups remain almost the same for now. Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Brett Kulak, Jake Walman, and TY Emberson are on defensive duties, with Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner as netminders. However, the fans’ verdict was far from positive.

Many fans have already debated over the Edmonton Oilers’ decision to trade Sam O’Reilly for Isaac Howard and its long-term effects. While bringing Mangiapane, who scored 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in 81 regular-season games with the Washington Capitals last season, was another big move, the fans just didn’t seem confident.

Edmonton Oilers fans gave their unanimous take

Despite the multiple changes, the fans expressed that the Florida Panthers might just be too strong to dethrone. “It is totally possible they advance to lose to Florida again next year,” commented one fan, who thought that the new roster would once again help the Oilers to reach the final, only for them to lose again. Others thought that the additions were just not good enough.

“No…” wrote another Edmonton Oilers fan. “They were less competitive than the year before, and the Western Conference is gaining on them,” the netizen added. While the Oilers failed to take the Panthers to Game 7 this year, the story was different during the playoffs and the Western Conference final. After a rough start against the LA Kings, the Oilers smashed their way through the competition.

In fact, this year they reached the final in two fewer games than they did in their 2024 playoff run. That being said, others thought the new addition cost the Oilers too dearly. “They won’t even make it past the second round; They let go of all their depth,” explained one fan. The Canadian NHL team did let go of multiple veteran players, including Evander Kane, Corey Perry, Connor Brown, Viktor Arvidsson, and others.

Then came those who pointed out the lack of a goaltending change. “Who is a goaltender? That will answer this question,” one hockey enthusiast wrote in response to NHL.com’s question. “With Skinner still being in the lineup? Hell no,” commented another X user. However, it’s not that the Edmonton Oilers have stopped looking for NHL talent.

“There’s a lot of things we want to address over the summer, going into the next regular season, and special teams will be one of them,” Kris Knoblauch told NHL.com. Other things on the list are neutral zone and defensive zone coverage, penalty kill, and more. So who knows? Maybe the Edmonton Oilers will change the fans’ minds by the time they’re done revamping it all.