After another brutal defeat on home ice, Sports 1440’s Jason Gregor threw a simple one question on social media: If you were Stan Bowman, what is the one move you would make right now as General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers?
Oilers fans didn’t hesitate to respond and share their ideas. As you’d expect, those ideas ranged from intriguing to downright ridiculous, but they relieved every conceivable frustration, fantasy trade, and desperate solution. The responses paint a blunt picture of where the fanbase’s minds are heading during another turbulent stretch of the season.
Goaltending fixes dominate the conversation
Unsurprisingly, most fans focused on the crease. The calls were loud and varied: “Both goalies,” wrote one fan, while another demanded of the team “Move Nurse and Skinner.” Binnington’s name popped up repeatedly – some politely, others in capital letters: “BINNINGTON BINNINGTON BINNINGTON.”
Others pushed for Connor Ingram, with several fans calling for Skinner to be sent down and Pickard opting out. Suggestions ranged from mild tweaks to blockbuster ideas, including a proposal involving Skinner, picks and retention to land Jordan Binnington. More ambitious answers mentioned Juuse Saros and Joey Daccord, and even lamented that Edmonton didn’t pay a second-rounder to land Mackenzie Blackwood last year.
Trade fantasies, cap dumps and big swings
When goaltending wasn’t the goal, the suggestion was simple: blow it up. One fan called for Darnell Nurse to be waived, while another argued that Edmonton should dump Andrew Mangiapane to the Maple Leafs to free up cap space. There were wildly unrealistic proposals — like a huge Saros-and-Forsberg-for-half-Oilers-roster blockbuster — but that’s standard practice when these kinds of questions are asked on social media.
Some wanted a complete reset: “The rebuilding starts now,” said one fan, proposing a buyout for nurses and clearing the goalie tandem for “a bag of pucks.” Others urged the team to bring back Evander Kane or call up “all the AHL guys” just to shake up the chemistry.
Some respondents skipped the schedule moves altogether and went straight to the organization itself. A few called for the firing of coach Kris Knoblauch, while one fan sarcastically suggested rescinding the media credentials of local reporters (the one that personally stung a bit).
But perhaps the most valid response came from someone who poured cold water on the goalkeeper’s obsession: “The new goalkeeper is putting lipstick on a pig… defensively they are terrible and it doesn’t matter who is in the net.” That sentiment reflected a growing belief that Edmonton’s problems run deeper than simply replacing a netminder.
Another suggested a blockbuster trade that many fans in the thread felt could be more realistic than most other ideas suggested: “To Buffalo-Bouchard, Howard, Skinner, 1st, 2nd To Edmonton- (Devon) Levi, (Bowen) Byram, (Tage) Thompson Gotta give to get. I’m a Bouchard fan. But change is needed.”
A fan base desperate for answers
If one thing is clear from Gregor’s question, it is that Oilers fans are running out of patience and confidence. They want change – any change – and they want it now. Whether Bowman sees what these fans see is a whole different story.
Next: Fans and media sound off as rumors link Jordan Binnington to Oilers
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