The Edmonton Oilers are making plenty of noise this NHL offseason. Though they haven’t made any ground-breaking moves, the Oilers are quietly bolstering their lineup. Shortly after Corey Perry packed his bags, Connor McDavid and company welcomed a new veteran voice. A former teammate of Brad Marchand in Boston is now joining the franchise in Edmonton.
After losing to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final yet again, the message within the Oilers is clear: leave the door ajar in your way out—someone is sure to enter or walk out right after.
It didn’t take long after Perry’s exit for the Oilers to add a new veteran voice for McDavid and the rest of the squad. While it doesn’t have as much experience as 40-year-old Perry, Marchand‘s former teammate can bring in much-needed depth for Edmonton.
As the Oilers announced on their social media, Edmonton has signed Curtis Lazar to a one-year contract with an average annual value of $775,000. It’s a very low-risk contract, and while the prospect of a high reward isn’t too likely, it could still pay some dividends.
Lazar will join his seventh NHL team. He previously played for the Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils. The forward appeared in 87 games during his time with Marchand’s Bruins, recording 20 points with a perfectly balanced split of 10 goals and 10 assists.
Depth addition
Lazar could be a big addition to the Oilers’ bottom-six, an area that has proven to be a headache for fans throughout the postseason. Though Lazar hasn’t scored more than 10 goals in any NHL season, he could still contribute to the organization’s depth, which has a big debt on that regard.
During the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Edmonton’s inconsistent bottom six was fully exposed, as the Oilers relied almost entirely on McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins to generate offense.
Return to Oil town
Though Lazar hadn’t played for the Oilers before in his NHL career, he did spend some time with the WHL team in Alberta’s capital. Lazar played from 2010 to 2014 for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League. Lazar played 199 games with the Oil Kings, recording 169 points. It’s fair to say that Edmonton is a city that suits him well.