TALKING POINTS: Bowman speaks after acquiring Ingram from Mammoth

Oilers General Manager and Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Stan Bowman met with the media at the Downtown Community Arena on Wednesday morning after acquiring goaltender Connor Ingram from the Utah Mammoth in exchange for future considerations.

The executive discussed the plan moving forward for Ingram, ongoing contract negotiations for both captain Connor McDavid & Head Coach Kris Knoblauch, the use of younger players like Matt Savoie & Isaac Howard in the lineup, and more.

Watch Bowman's full interview & read the full transcript from the availability below.

Bowman on the trade to acquire Connor Ingram and the plan moving forward for the goaltender in the Oilers' organization:

“The plan for him is to go to Bakersfield. He hasn’t been in Training Camp, so we need to get him going and up to speed. I just spoke to him a few minutes ago, and he's excited for a new opportunity and a fresh start, so the plan is for him to go to Bakersfield.

“The way we look at it is this is a great depth option for us, and I think whether it's injuries or the play of our team, it's nice to know that we have someone in our organization that's had some recent success in the NHL. We have Matt Tomkins as well. So I think goalie is that one position where, when you need it, it's really difficult to find it. Because if a guy gets hurt, you're sort of at the whim of who's available, and oftentimes, there's nobody available. So we want to get him back going and when he's at his best.

“That's how I like to measure players. When he's playing well and he's on top of his game, we know he can be a really good goaltender. So we’ve got to help him get back to that point. I know he's excited for a fresh start, so he's going to be in Bakersfield, and then we'll just take it from there. There's no set program. He could be there for the whole season. We don't know. The plan is not just to get him up to speed and then bring him to Edmonton – we want to have it as a good depth opportunity for us. The play of our goalies, our team, and his play will dictate where it goes.”

Bowman on if the acquisition of Ingram takes them out of the goalie market:

“Goalies are no different than anyone else. If there's a way to upgrade your team and have a surefire improvement on your roster, we'd have to look at that. But the reality of it is, those situations are very rare, not just for goalies, but for established players that are going to come in and clearly be better than who you have; that's not that common for it to happen. So, I would say that if that situation were to present itself two months from now, I wouldn't rule it out. But I think we're in a much better position today than we were yesterday relative to our goaltending depth.

"Connor's still a young guy. He's got road ahead of him and is in the last year of his contract, so he's eager to prove that he can be that guy and be part of an NHL tandem. So I think we're going to get to know him and help him get his game to the best it can be, and then we'll see where it goes.”

Bowman on if they’ve had discussions with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard on new contracts:

“Yeah, we haven't talked to them about extensions. Not to say that we won't, but I think you're right. Sometimes that goes both ways, where you get a really motivated goalie and they want to prove that they're the guy for the future. So now, we've essentially got three guys in that boat in the last year of their contracts, and we'll have to sort out what we're going to do with our goaltending over the next 10 months. But for now, that's not something we're looking at."

Bowman on whether the Dustin Wolf contract in Calgary influences negotiations on a new contract for Stuart Skinner:

“There are a lot of factors in those deals. Everything is relevant to a degree, but there are also differences. So when you get down to it and get into the negotiations with an agent, then those factors are all at play. But I wouldn't say it's like a one-for-one comparison.”

Bowman on if he expects McDavid to begin the regular season without a new contract:

“I don't have expectations either way on that. I think we're continuing to talk to Judd [Moldaver] regularly. I talk to him almost every day and have had good chats with Connor all along the way, too, so I guess I don't like to make predictions. We'll see where it goes.”

Bowman on conversations with McDavid & his agent about a new contract:

“Very positive conversations. All of them have been. I can't add perspective from what it's like on their side. I can just say that we're ready and excited to have Connor here, and he looks excellent. I think he looked in rare form the other night, which is good to see him and Leon finding some chemistry with Freddy. That was nice to see. So nothing's changed from that perspective.”

Bowman on his comfort level with McDavid remaining unsigned past the 2025-26 season:

“Well, there are certain things that are in your control and out of your control. So we're just focused on not getting way ahead of ourselves. That type of question is way down the road, so now all we're focused on right now is the next couple of days here getting ready for the start of the season, and continuing our dialogue with Connor and Judd. We're going to keep doing that, so I don't want to get too far ahead of it. I find it's best to kind of stay in the moment, not getting too far down the road.

Bowman on the impact of the Kirill Kaprizov contract on negotiations with McDavid:

“You'd have to ask them on that. I don't know. I think in some ways, Connor's just a unique player. There's no one in the world like him, so I don't have a comment on that, whether it would be impacting it at all.”

Bowman on ‘third time’s a charm’ for the Oilers and having what they need to win the Stanley Cup:

“Yeah, I hope so. That would be great. Each year is different, so I don't know if that’s the way to look at it. I always try to caution people not to look back at what went wrong or why we didn't win two years ago or last year. This year, it's a different team. We got a different look here. We've got some younger faces.

“I think that's probably the one thing I would point to. I'm excited about this year's group. We have a number of younger players who are expected to show improvement over the season, so however they look in October and November will be different from how they look in April. The entire goal for our team is not just for those players, but for our team as a whole. We want the team to take steps as the year goes on, and part of that can be adding new players. That's traditionally how it's gone. Like last year, we were better because we had Klingberg, Walman, and Frederic. They weren't here at the beginning of the year, but I think if that's the only way your team improves, it's a little bit limiting.

“We’d like to have some internal growth, so even a guy like Podkolzin, he’s only 24, so I think he's going to be a guy who's a better version of himself in the spring than he is now. We saw his game. You look at where he started last year, he's around the fourth line and kind of finding his way into the lineup, and when the playoffs come, he was a really important player. I think he can take an even bigger step this year, and we want him to, and we need him to. Then you add some of the younger guys that haven't even played yet, and even Noah Philp – he’s not young, but he doesn't have a lot of NHL experience – I think a guy like that can improve over the season, as well as Savoie and Howard.

“There are other guys, too, that we've seen who have shown well in training camp, so I think that's the difference this year to previous years, is we're going to have obviously hope to add players, too, as the year goes on. We just added Connor Ingram today, so it's about where our team is. What we're focused on now is starting the year strong. But when you look at the big picture of the whole season, we want to see our team take steps internally. I think that’s where your team can maybe have a different look. We didn't have much of that the last couple of years, where we had players grow huge leaps and bounds over the year. I hope to see that this year.”

Bowman on internal growth potentially being the key to becoming a Stanley Cup champion and not just bringing in new players from outside the organization:

“It’s a little bit of both. It's not to say we're not going to bring players in, but I think there's always a limit on that, especially this year. It's a challenge with the playoff cap counting. Even if you accrue a lot of cap space and you bring in a new player, you may not be able to fit him into your playoff roster because this is the way the math works. Sometimes, you can acquire a player at the deadline knowing there's only 40 days left in the season, but then if your playoff roster can't afford him, you kind of have to look backwards and you can't expect just one person to swoop in at the trade deadline. I don't think that's a great strategy to be your only way to get better, so I think that's probably the biggest difference.”

Bowman on lessons learned in previous seasons just making sure the team gets into the top eight to make playoffs:

“Well, I think home ice is nice, so we'd like to try to do that. And I think that's the goal. When we start out, you’ve got to get in the playoffs, so if you win your division, you automatically make the playoffs. Our focus right now is building towards it, but I think when you get to the playoffs, you can maybe sometimes overthink that too much, and that's not our only focus. But we would like to win the division. Starting the season, that's a goal for ours, and if you do that, then you qualify for the playoffs automatically. You put yourself in a good spot, but at the end of the day, you have to learn to win on the road, too, so I think it's not the only focus for us.”

Bowman on the balance of having young players on the NHL roster and letting them develop in the AHL, most specifically Isaac Howard and Matt Savoie:

“It's a balancing act. I think that's where our coaching staff comes in. We're going to rely on them to do the proper amount of encouragement, trying to build up their confidence, but if they're not ready, they may not play every game, and that's okay. It's an adjustment. The NHL game is different, no matter what you say. It's certainly harder than college hockey and it's a step up from the American League. So learning to deal with the rigours of the league is part of that process. We'll kind of take it as it goes.

“We're trying not to script out how it's going to work. Part of it's going to be how our team's performing. Part of it's going to be how they're doing individually. We want to build their confidence up. And also, they have to find their role on the team, and it might be different than the role that they've played elsewhere. That's all part of young players assimilating is they might not get the opportunities they did in years past, which is okay. If they can learn to contribute in different ways, that's part of their evolution to being an NHL player, then it's going to happen. It's just a matter of how quickly and how smoothly it happens. That's a process our coaches are going to work with.”

Bowman on negotiations with Head Coach Kris Knoblauch on a new contract and their alignment moving forward on integrating the team’s younger prospects:

“We are working Kris’ deal. We're not at the end of it yet, but I'm confident we're going to get there and we're very aligned on that. We see things very similarly, and I don't think it's as hard as people make it out to be. Young players have some progression they have to go through, and it'll become apparent. If it's obvious that they just can't get it done, then it'll be obvious to everyone. It's not like I'm going to see things much differently than he's going to see things. So I think we're very aligned on that. It's not about just the young players developing, but I think when you talk about Savoie, Howard and other younger players, they have more to their game that I think we can develop, and I think I'm confident they can do it. We just have to work with them and be aware that it does take some time.”