Oilers agree to contract extension with star center

Oilers remain firmly in contention with Connor McDavid extension

In his first two years on the job, Edmonton general manager Stan Bowman has now been successful in renewing his two franchise cornerstones well before unrestricted free agency became a real threat. He went through a similar song and dance with Leon Draisaitl last year. However, unlike McDavid, Draisaitl’s commitment was long-term — an eight-year, $112M extension in September 2024 that, at the time, carried the league’s highest cap hit at $14M.

Draisaitl’s decision to extend came before the Oilers dropped a second straight Stanley Cup Final to the Panthers. Now 28 and entering his 11th NHL season, the context surrounding McDavid’s negotiations was markedly different as a result. The team has been knocking on the door for quite some time, but is now years deep into a contention window without a championship to show for it. 

With a bottom-five prospect pool and spending flexibility limited in recent seasons, there was an expectation that McDavid wanted the option to reach free agency in a few years, while still in his prime, if he hadn’t yet won a cup with the Oilers.

But at least for the next few years, Edmonton’s contention window remains wide open with Monday’s news. McDavid is coming off an underwhelming regular season by his standards, one that saw him miss significant time with an injury for the first time since a fractured collarbone stole nearly half of his rookie season. He still managed to hit the 100-point mark in 67 appearances, but only 26 of them were goals, also his lowest output since his rookie year and one of the worst per-game efforts of his career.

That was all put to bed by another dominant postseason run that would have earned him MVP honors had Edmonton emerged victorious this time around — an honor he managed to win anyway in 2024 despite being on the losing end as well. In the Oilers’ back-to-back Final runs, McDavid has led the league in playoff scoring both times for a cumulative 15-60–75 line in 47 games. 

He’s established himself as one of the top playoff performers of all time in the process. He’s got 150 points in 96 games across seven trips to the postseason, making his 1.56 points per game third in league history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 1.84 and Mario Lemieux’s 1.61.

The regular-season numbers are similarly fantastic. Only twice in McDavid’s career has he managed not to hit the century mark — his rookie season and the 2019-20 campaign that COVID cut off with weeks left in the season. He enters Year 11 with 361 goals, 721 assists and 1,082 points in 712 career games. That’s good for 1.52 points per game, also third all-time behind Gretzky (1.92) and Lemieux (1.88).

He and Draisaitl remain the co-headliners of a forward group that’s lost a bit of depth punch due to cap constraints, but still has Zach Hyman signed through 2028 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins through 2029. McDavid’s deal coincides with the expiry of Hyman’s contract. It also marks an immense discount on his market value, which was close to — if not the max salary ($20M-ish per season) — to help facilitate a long-awaited championship. If that doesn’t happen, it’s hard to envision a world in which McDavid doesn’t head elsewhere in the offseason of 2028.

Oilers also extend defenseman

As for Walman, it’s hard to find a player whose fortunes have changed as dramatically since last offseason as his. The 29-year-old is entering the final season of a three-year, $10.2M contract extension he signed with the Red Wings back in 2023. 

Despite Walman averaging nearly 20 minutes per game in the first year of that deal and managing a 12-9–21 scoring line in 63 appearances — fine value for the money — Detroit opted to clear his contract. It even paid a second-round pick to the Sharks to take him on.

On a thin San Jose blue line, Walman quickly emerged as the No. 1 option. He averaged north of 23 games for the Sharks and responded with an offensive breakout, notching a 6-26–32 line in 50 appearances with a highly respectable -1 rating on a club that ended up finishing the season with a -102 goal differential. 

San Jose parlayed the lefty’s breakout by trading him to the Oilers at the deadline, netting a 2026 first-round pick in return in addition to the second-rounder it received from the Wings for taking on his contract in what remains one of the more puzzling trades in recent memory.

Walman’s production barely even took a hit despite slotting in as Edmonton’s No. 4 behind Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse. He spent most of his time last year anchoring a third pairing with John Klingberg, but is now getting a look in the top four to start 2025-26, moving to his offside to play with a fellow lefty in Nurse. In 37 combined regular-season and playoff games with the Oilers after the move, Walman had a 3-15–18 scoring line with a +14 rating while still averaging north of 20 minutes per game.

A seven-year extension keeps the pending UFA under contract through the 2032-33 season, so Walman now carries the longest remaining term of any Oiler alongside Draisaitl and Trent Frederic. He’s also due to be their fifth-highest-paid skater next season behind Draisaitl, McDavid, Bouchard ($10.5M) and Nurse ($9.25M). 

With McDavid and Walman in tow, the Oilers now have $81.3M committed to 14 players for 2026-27, per PuckPedia. That still leaves at least $22.7M in flexibility to fill nine roster spots, a number that could grow if the salary cap exceeds its $104M projection. They do still have a few notable UFAs left unsigned past this season, a class headlined by Ekholm and starting netminder Stuart Skinner.