Bowman says Oilers will have different team

EDMONTON – Saying Saturday was not a day for big decisions or announcements, Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman did concede next season’s team will “not be the same group as today.” Two days after the Oilers were eliminated in six games in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Bowman told a media session there are positives in young players like Matt Savoie, Josh Samanski and Vasily Podkolzin, but changes to the roster are definitely needed.“We do need some new players. I don’t know if we’re going to have a dramatically different roster next year,” Bowman said. “We don’t need to rewrite everything but we do need adjustments.”He did agree that some major decisions he made in adding players this season “did not work out,” pointing to goaltender Tristan Jarry and forward Andrew Mangiapane.Bowman is facing hard choices this summer. He has to deal with a number of free agents while figuring out how to revamp the roster to improve its goaltending and address glaring defensive deficiencies. Story continues below advertisement Asked his thoughts on how to improve the team defensively, head coach Kris Knoblauch said the issue was mainly “the mentality of wanting to play good defensive hockey.”