Edmonton’s season ended in the first round, and for Oilers fans it brought a break they had not had in five years: no more playoff games to follow after the opening round. The Anaheim Ducks knocked the Oilers out, closing a run that had already begun to expose how much thinner the roster had become.
That thinness was felt at the back end, where Edmonton had traded both Stuart Skinner and Brett Kulak to the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2025-26 season and tried to make the new setup work. Tristan Jarry, brought in as part of that move, posted a.858 save percentage in 19 regular season games with the Oilers and was the backup goalie during the final stretch of the regular season. In the playoffs, he started just once in five games.
Kulak’s exit mattered for reasons that went beyond one trade. Edmonton acquired him partway through the 2021-22 season, and over his time with the club he played 75 playoff games. In the Oilers’ second straight run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2025, he averaged 23:25 in ice time over 22 games and chipped in one goal and four assists. He was the kind of defenceman Kris Knoblauch could trust in all situations, and he could play on either side on the back end.
Without Kulak, the Oilers dressed Ty Emberson in all six playoff games and leaned on him for a 12:11 average ice time. That was part of a broader picture that did Edmonton no favours in the series: the Ducks looked much faster through five games, and the Oilers did not have the same secondary scoring, goaltending or depth on defense that had carried them in better seasons.
That left Knoblauch facing a harder question than a single loss. Some around the team believe his message had run its course, and the roster changes did not solve the problem they were meant to address. Edmonton now moves into the 2025-26 season with the reality that one trade reshaped its crease and another removed a steady presence from the blue line, just as the playoff margin got tighter.
