Entering the opening of NHL free agency, the Edmonton Oilers had 18 of 23 roster players signed and $7,415,834 in cap room for five players. A new goaltender, at least one winger and the trade of veteran defenceman Darnell Nurse were expected to arrive on July 1.It all went down in a flurry of early afternoon activity. Oilers general manager Stan Bowman managed to deal Nurse, rework the left side of the defence, find a young goalie and add on the wing, all while avoiding middling talent that came with tremendous risk.And it’s only Day 1.Trades on July 1His first deal brought in goaltender Devon Levi from the Buffalo Sabres. Levi is a top-end goaltending prospect, with four years of AHL experience behind him. The AHL analytics on Levi show a goalie who delivered a strong performance over 2025-26. In AHL GSAA (goals saved above average), the waiver-eligible prospects delivered the following: Michael DiPietro plus-37 GSAA, Levi 16, Sebastian Cossa 2.Levi is a solid bet for an organization that needed a backup goaltender who could eventually become the starter. He’s beyond NHL-ready and joins a team that just hired Mike Babcock, a coach known for a defensive style that allows his goaltenders to have success.The second deal was the big one, sending Nurse to the San Jose Sharks for defencemen Shakir Mukhamadullin and Zack Sharp. The key fact surrounding the deal? No retention on Nurse’s $9.25 million cap hit. Mukhamadullin is an RFA; his salary was $1 million last season, and he’ll likely earn around $2 million on his next deal. Mukhamadullin, 24, is 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. His skating is NHL average, and he has some chaos to his game. The Sharks used him most often against mid-level talent, suggesting he will spend time on the second or third pairing in Edmonton. He can play both sides.Sharp, 21, is 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds. He was a teammate of Oilers signing Owen Michaels last season at Western Michigan University. He must be signed by June 1, 2027.Free-agent signings on July 1As the early hours of free agency slipped away, Bowman was unable to sign any player because of the Nurse situation. Once the trade was announced, the team signed a few free agents on Day 1.