Adam Henrique’s run in Edmonton looks finished, and it ends the way a lot of quietly important NHL stories do: without much noise.
The Oilers have moved on from the 36-year-old center after his two-year deal expired, leaving him a UFA following an injury-interrupted season. For a player who seemed built for a familiar return - steady, dependable, always in the right place - the lack of a new contract makes the ending feel abrupt.
But that’s where it stands. His time in Edmonton is over.
That’s a little surprising, considering how much he meant once he got here.
Henrique arrived at the 2024 trade deadline in a deal that didn’t exactly thrill the fanbase. Edmonton gave up a first-round pick to Anaheim for Henrique and Sam Carrick, and plenty of people wanted something flashier.
A true top-six scorer. The kind of swing that looks bold on paper.
Instead, Henrique became one of the players who actually swung a series.
In the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, with Edmonton trailing Florida 3-0 and staring at elimination, Henrique scored the game-winner in Game 4 by tipping a Janmark pass past Bobrovsky to make it 2-0 in what turned into an 8-1 blowout. Then in Game 6, Janmark found him again, and Henrique buried a wrist shot for another 2-0 lead and another game-winner. Two game-winning goals in one Stanley Cup Final made him the fourth Oiler in history to do it, joining Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Fernando Pisani.
The Oilers still lost in seven. But those goals kept the door open.
Henrique came back on July 1st, signing a two-year deal at $3 million a season. At that point, he could have chased more money or a bigger role somewhere else. He chose Edmonton.
His 2024-25 regular season was solid, if unspectacular: 12 goals and 27 points in 81 games. He handled third-line minutes, penalty-kill work and faceoffs, and he was part of a team that reached the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year. In the playoffs, he added 7 points in 22 games while doing the kind of grinding work contenders need.
The 2025-26 season, his last with the Oilers, turned into a tougher grind. An injury against Nashville in January sent him to LTIR for nearly two months.
He returned, finished the year with 14 points in 60 games, then dressed for the playoffs and got hurt again. That was the end of it.
What stands out most is the professionalism.
Henrique spent 15 years in the league and crossed the 1,000-game mark, doing it in an Oilers jersey. He was the kind of player coaches trust because he never made a fuss about the hard jobs.
Tough faceoffs? He took them.
Penalty kill? He handled it.
Need a bigger role because the stars are banged up? He stepped in and kept things moving.
And when the moment was at its biggest, he delivered.
There won’t be much of a goodbye ceremony here. No big tribute video, no drawn-out farewell.
He’ll just be absent from the roster next season, and that will be that. But he was part of two straight Stanley Cup Final runs, something this franchise hadn’t done since the dynasty years, and he gave the Oilers everything he had while he was here.
It was a good run.
Goodbye, Henny.
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Oilers Blue Line Squeeze Could Force A Move Fans Saw Coming
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What makes the situation interesting is that the likely move does not appear to involve one of the more established names. Edmontons choice seems to be narrowing around a pair of younger defensemen, with handedness and recent usage both part of the equation. One option has the cleaner fit on paper, while the other spent more time on the outside looking in, and the Oilers now have to decide whether they want to keep the extra insurance or turn that depth into something else before camp sorts it out for them. [Read more 🡒]