The Edmonton Oilers head into the 2026-27 season with their core intact, but there’s still plenty of roster business waiting on the other side of it. Connor McDavid and the rest of the star group are locked in for at least another year, yet seven depth pieces are set to hit unrestricted free agency on July 1.
That means next summer could bring a noticeable shakeup, especially among the supporting cast. Some of these players have already shown enough to keep themselves in the conversation. Others are staring at a pretty clear crossroads.
Kasperi Kapanen is one of the more interesting names on the list. The 30-year-old carries a $2.6 million cap hit and is coming off an 8-goal, 9-assist, 17-point season in 41 games.
Injuries shortened his regular season, but he turned enough heads in the playoffs to land another one-year deal with Edmonton this past summer. If he wants something longer term after this, he’ll have to keep proving he belongs.
Mattias Janmark, meanwhile, is starting to look like a player on the edge of the end. The 33-year-old has just seven goals over his last three NHL seasons, even though he’s played 194 regular-season games in that span.
He finished 2026-27 with 1 goal, 7 assists and 8 points in 43 games before injuries ended his year midway through last season. Unless something changes in a big way, this feels like it could be his final run with the Oilers.
Goaltender Frederik Andersen is another name worth watching, if only because of where he is in his career. At 36, with a $1 million cap hit, he was brought in as a short-term answer in net.
He posted a 16-14-5 record with a .874 save percentage and -3.3 GSAx in 2026-27, and retirement could be a real possibility at any point. A strong year could open the door to an extension, but Edmonton will be hoping one of Devon Levi or Tristan Jarry is ready to take over.
On the blue line, Spencer Stastney and Ty Emberson are in different spots, even though both are 26 and both are heading toward free agency. Stastney, who comes with a $1.52 million cap hit, put up 2 goals, 8 assists and 10 points in 66 games after arriving the same day the Oilers traded Stuart Skinner and Brett Kulak last season. He never really settled into a steady lineup role and will need another step forward to strengthen his case.
Emberson, with a $1.3 million cap hit, seems to have a better grip on his place. He finished with 2 goals, 10 assists and 12 points in 72 games, and it feels like he has the inside track on a spot on Edmonton’s third pair. The question now is whether that leads to another deal or sends the Oilers back into the market.
Mathieu Joseph is set to fill the veteran depth-forward role Curtis Lazar had this year, and the 29-year-old will get a $1 million cap hit’s worth of opportunity to make his case. He had 2 goals, 9 assists and 11 points in 51 games in 2026-27.
If he stays that level of player, Edmonton will probably accept it - but that doesn’t necessarily mean an extension is coming. He’ll likely need to give the Oilers more than expected to remain beyond this season.
Then there’s Max Jones, the cheapest of the group at $850,000. The 28-year-old put up 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points in 21 games, and it sounds like he has support inside the organization.
Jones brings size, physicality and a little bit of offence, which makes him useful when injuries hit. He may not be a full-time NHLer next season, but he looks like a strong AHL call-up option if Edmonton needs one.
In Other News...
Oilers Rumors Put Edmontons Faith In Its Young Forwards Under Fire
Speculation around the Oilers and a possible swing for a proven scorer has added another layer to a summer already defined by cap pressure and roster tightropes. Names such as Patrik Laine and Vladimir Tarasenko have surfaced in the rumor mill, and the mere idea of Edmonton chasing that kind of forward help naturally shifts the conversation away from the usual bargain hunting and toward what the front office really thinks of its internal options.
For a team trying to find more offense without boxing itself in, the question is less about star power than about trust. Isaac Howard, Vasily Podkolzin and Matt Savoie are part of the young group whose development is supposed to give Edmonton another gear down the road, but adding another veteran scorer would suggest the organization may not be ready to lean on that next wave just yet. With salary cap and roster limits already shaping every move, the Oilers could be revealing more about their long-term beliefs than they intended. [Read more 🡒]
Stan Bowman Has A Real Oilers Opportunity Before Camp Gets Messy
The Oilers find themselves in a rare late-summer spot: cap space available, a projected 23-man roster already sketched out, and no glaring hole that screams for a panic move. Stan Bowman still has about $4.7 million to work with, which gives Edmonton some room to think bigger than just papering over camp depth issues. If he wants to upgrade before the season starts, this is the sort of position teams prefer to be in, even if it brings its own kind of pressure.
The trick is figuring out whether the answer comes from outside the organization or from simply surviving camp without creating a mess on the back end of the roster. A few trade possibilities have already come up as Bowman weighs whether to add a significant piece, and any move would have ripple effects for players battling to stay on the roster. If the group stays healthy, there are veterans and depth forwards who could suddenly be squeezed out, which is why the next few weeks could be more about sorting the edges than chasing headlines. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers May Have Solved More Than Cap Trouble With Darnell Nurse Trade
The Darnell Nurse trade gave Edmonton the kind of salary cap breathing room it badly needed, but the move looks like it may have done more than simply clear money off the books. In a league where front offices are constantly trying to balance present value against future flexibility, the Oilers decision fit into a broader trend of teams using contract leverage and trade structures to reshape rosters without giving up the ability to adjust later.
For Edmonton, the real intrigue is in what came back along with the financial relief. The deal added a pair of young defensive prospects to the organization, giving the Oilers more than just a cleaner cap sheet and a fresh path to reworking the blue line. Whether those pieces grow into anything meaningful will determine how this trade is judged, but for now it reads like the kind of move that can quiet one problem while opening the door to another opportunity. [Read more 🡒]