How will Edmonton Oilers’ fourth line shape up in 2024-25?

Back in the saddle after a short vacation to beautiful Vancouver Island. Things have calmed down in Oil Country since my last post a dozen days ago, though there was nonetheless a significant trade of prospects. Edmonton sent a pair of right wingers from the 2021 Draft to Ottawa Senators in Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson in  return for left winger Roby Jarventie and a fourth-round draft pick to flesh out what had been a thin set of selections in 2025.

Back in the saddle after a short vacation to beautiful Vancouver Island. Things have calmed down in Oil Country since my last post a dozen days ago, though there was nonetheless a significant trade of prospects. Edmonton sent a pair of right wingers from the 2021 Draft to Ottawa Senators in Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson in  return for left winger Roby Jarventie and a fourth-round draft pick to flesh out what had been a thin set of selections in 2025.

In my view the top nine players outlined here by a black box are mortal locks to make the squad come October.

• The trio of Connor McDavid between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman was among the very best lines in the NHL all season long. All are staples on the powerplay as well.
• Leon Draisaitl was flitting here, there and everywhere, from centre to wing and with a variety of linemates throughout the season, two of whom (Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod) departed the team in recent weeks. The Jul 01 signings of top-flight wingers Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson seemed tailor-made for Leon to settle down at the pivot position with proven snipers on his flanks.
• The third line of Adam Henrique between Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown proved an excellent checking trio with strong penalty-killing chops, and logged the most ice time as a threesome of any Oilers line in the Stanley Cup Finals. All were UFA on Jul 01, but were each was re-signed in the Jul 01 flurry and surely are not going anywhere but Edmonton in the near future.

Below that 3×3 box, however, reside a group of forwards with questions hovering about them. Let’s review on a player-by-player basis.

The incumbents

• Dylan Holloway turns 23 during training camp. He’s amassed 89 NHL games over the past two seasons, tallying just 9-9-18, -1 with 56 PiM. He crushed it in brief stints in the AHL over those same two seasons, popping 17 goals in just 30 games. He was recalled for the last time just before the 2024 playoffs, in which he played all 25 games (11:30 per game) and produced 5-2-7, +4 with a couple of important goals along the way.
  Biggest question hanging over him right now is his contract status; his ELC expired at the end of the season, the Oilers have issued a qualifying offer but no contract has been signed as yet. He’s in a similar position as McLeod two summers ago; promising but with no arbitration rights and not enough of a track record to garner a big pay day unless there is term associated with it. Expect a bridge deal of one or two years, with the former apt to deliver a lower cap hit.
• Derek Ryan is 37 now, and his surprisingly long career appears to be on the wane. All but 27 of his 570 NHL games have come since his 30th birthday. He’s produced a half-dozen NHL seasons of double-digit goals, invariably in a depth role, but dropped to just 5 in 2023-24, followed by an unproductive playoffs of 19 GP, 0-1-1, -9.
  He has a year to run on a deal that carries a reasonable $900,000 cap hit, and brings some valuable traits: he’s a right shot, can play centre or right wing, is strong on the faceoff dot (career 55% win rate) and is a fine penalty killer. But the observed erosion of his play in the late season and playoffs suggests he is vulnerable.
• Corey Perry was signed as an in-season free agent after his prior contract was terminated by Chicago Blackhawks and joined the Oilers in late January just before the end of their epic 16-game winning streak. He played the final 38 games of the season, scoring 8-5-13, -1 in a depth role (ATOI 12:51). That ice time was further curtailed to 10:46 in the playoffs, in which he produced just 1-2-3, -3 in 19 games. He spent 6 games in the press box due to injury and/or coach’s decision.
  The 39-year-old has an epic résumé, being one of just two players (also: Scott Niedermayer) to win every team trophy out there — Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, World Cup, World Championship, World Junior, Memorial Cup. He’s big, greasy, and plays a position (right wing) of organizational weakness.
  Somewhat surprisingly, he too was signed to a one-year extension on Jul 01, with a primary cap hit of $1.15 million — exactly the amount that can be “buried” in the minors should he not make the team. Not that he’s likely to spend time in the AHL at this point, but I can envision a scenario where he is waived from the active roster and hangs around town as an extra, opening up a spot for a younger, faster, cheaper player who might shave as much as $375k off the cap in times of distress.
• Evander Kane is a 100% lock to be on the roster, but in what capacity? He’s dealt with a succession of injuries during his two full seasons in Edmonton, the last of which incapacitated him for the last five games of the Stanley Cup Finals — just when the Oilers needed him most. In addition to the nasty laceration of his wrist in November of 2022, he has dealt with a persistent sports hernia and what has recently been described as a hip issue.
  Seems like a strong possibility he will at least start the 2024-25 season on Long Term Injured Reserve, relieving a $5.1 million strain on the salary cap for the time he is sidelined and surely opening up the roster for additional depth players during that period. The ultimate resolution of the Kane situation will be a thorny issue that might be delayed until his full no-movement clause gets downgraded to a limited no-trade just before the deadline.