Stan Bowman has just revealed his bold but controversial offseason plan

The Edmonton Oilers already made their aggressive move this summer, just not where it mattered most.

David Pagnotta told 880 CHED's Inside Sports on Monday that Bowman will wait for an opportunity rather than force a trade. That report is landing as calm, disciplined management.

It's worth remembering the same insider said something very different in May.

Back then, Pagnotta framed this as a bold-or-lose summer for a team on McDavid's clock. Two months later, bold has quietly become patient.

Edmonton didn't sit still in June.

Bowman traded Darnell Nurse to San Jose, remade the blue line for speed, and reworked the crease around Mike Babcock's June 23 hire.

That was the bold offseason. It just landed on the back end and in net.

McDavid signed his extension at a discount to give Bowman room to add. That room went entirely into defensemen and goaltending, not the winger up front who could ride his line.

Anaheim didn't beat the Oilers because of Edmonton's defense. It beat them because the secondary scoring behind McDavid and Draisaitl went quiet across six games.

That's the hole patience can't close. With Draisaitl at $14 million, McDavid at $12.5 million, and Bouchard near $10.5 million, roughly $37 million sits on three players and there's no cap room to buy a scorer.

Waiting only works if the right forward falls into Bowman's lap for cheap. If it doesn't, this isn't discipline.

Six weeks from now camp opens with the wrong end of the ice fixed.

If the lap stays empty, patience turns into a pressure cooker McDavid is watching.

Also read on House Of Hockey :
Connor Hellebuyck traded to the Buffalo Sabres for a large haul via insider's latest blockbuster proposal