The Edmonton Oilers moved on from quite a few key players over the summer, giving fans plenty of opportunity to keep tabs on their new teams.
This wasn’t the case of just a few players being left unsigned or traded away. Overall, the Oilers offloaded a staggering eight players who played in at least a few games with the club last season.
Some of these players have moved on to have some early success on their new teams while others have struggled to adapt to new surroundings. Here is a rundown of six of the most prominent former Oilers players and how they’ve done so far this season.
Philip Broberg (St. Louis Blues)
2024-25 stats: 21 GP, 2 G, 10 A, 12 PTS
Losing defenceman Philip Broberg to the St. Louis Blues through an offer sheet was a tough pill to swallow for the Oilers, and the former first-round pick’s recent play hasn’t made it any easier.
The Swede had a very hot start to his Blues tenure, notching nine points through the first 12 games of the season. An injury sidelined Broberg for 12 games in November, and while he hasn’t been quite as productive since returning, he has still established himself as a top-four defender on the Blues.
Dylan Holloway (St. Louis Blues)
2024-25 stats: 33 GP, 10 G, 9 A, 19 PTS
Perhaps the even more detrimental loss in the St. Louis offer sheet fiasco was Dylan Holloway, who has taken a huge step forward in his development early into the new NHL season.
Drafted 14th overall by the Oilers in 2020, Holloway only managed to hit nine points in two seasons in the NHL. He broke out in the playoffs last year, notching five goals and seven points in 25 games en route to the Stanley Cup Final.
In 33 games this season, Holloway has obliterated his career-highs in all offensive categories and has been a reliable depth scorer, something that the Oilers have needed this season.
Ryan McLeod (Buffalo Sabres)
2024-25 stats: 32 GP, 6 G, 9 A, 15 PTS
Edmonton decided to move on from Ryan McLeod over the summer, trading him to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for top prospect Matt Savoie. His departure meant that the team was losing a lot of speed in the bottom six.
Similar to Broberg and Holloway, McLeod got off to a great start with his new team, scoring four goals in his first eight games of the season. Since then, however, things have cooled down significantly as he has just three points in his last 14, and the Sabres are in the midst of an 11-game losing streak.
Warren Foegele (LA Kings)
2024-25 stats: 31 GP, 8 G, 7 A, 15 PTS
Warren Foegele had himself a career year with the Oilers last season as he put up his first-ever 20-goal season with the club. Yet, that wasn’t enough to nab a contract extension in the Alberta capital as the team let him walk into free agency, where he inked a deal with the LA Kings.
He’s picked up where he left off in his first few months with the Kings. Foegele is currently on pace to just barely eclipse the 20-goal plateau again and will probably land around the 40-point mark as well.
Overall, he hasn’t regressed or gotten much better, and he’s on par with what he did last season.
Vincent Desharnais (Vancouver Canucks)
2024-25 stats: 18 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 PTS
One former Oilers player who has had a tough time adjusting to his new team is defenceman Vincent Desharnais.
The towering six-foot-seven defender inked a two-year deal with the Canucks over the summer and has had a horrid start to the season. Desharnais has been a regular healthy scratch for the team, and reports surfaced earlier this month that Vancouver is already exploring the trade market for him.
Cody Ceci (San Jose Sharks)
2024-25 stats: 34 GP, 1 G, 7 A, 8 PTS
The Oilers managed to dump Cody Ceci’s cap hit in a trade with the San Jose Sharks over the summer that saw young defender Ty Emberson come the other way.
Initially, there were some worries about who would be able to step into Ceci’s spot on the second pair, and while that was an issue early in the season, it appears the team has found some solutions there of late.
Ceci has struggled to defend with the Sharks as well, putting up some of the league’s worst defensive metrics. Safe to say that the subtraction of Ceci hasn’t been nearly as impactful as some may have initially thought.