What’s Next for the Edmonton Oilers? A Look Ahead at the 2025 Off-Season

The 2024-25 season ended with another heartbreak for the Edmonton Oilers and the impending off-season brings no shortage of storylines.

With major contracts on the horizon, limited draft capital, and a few lingering questions about the roster, the next few weeks will be critical in shaping what this team looks like when the puck drops in October. Let’s take a look at what’s ahead.

The Buyout Window

The window for buying out contracts begins 48 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded and remains open until 5 PM ET on June 30, right before the start of free agency.

Using a buyout is pretty much an annual tradition in Edmonton. The Oilers bought out Lauri Korpikoski in 2016, Benoit Pouliot in 2017, Eric Gryba in 2018, Andrej Sekera in 2019, James Neal in 2021, and Jack Campbell in 2024.

Will we see another one this summer? Given the impending raises coming for Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard, along with Leon Draisaitl’s new contract kicking in, the Oilers would surely like to avoid adding more unnecessary cap charges.

Heading into 2025-26, the Oilers have $2.55 million in dead money against the salary cap: $2.3 million from the aforementioned Campbell buyout and $250k from Corey Perry’s performance bonus overage. While the overage charge is a one-year thing, Campbell’s buyout penalty goes through the 2029-30 season.

Two players who have been discussed as potential salary cap dumps for the Oilers this summer are Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson. The former has a 16-team no-trade list; the latter has a full no-move clause, which complicates the situation.

Last year, the CEO Jeff Jackson said the Oilers weren’t planning to buy out Campbell’s contract, but then did so after it was clear they weren’t going to find a taker. If Edmonton can’t find trades, the buyouts for either winger would cost the team $1,333,333 against the cap for two seasons.

The 2025 NHL Draft

The Oilers only have three selections heading into this year’s draft. Their first pick comes in the middle of the third round as compensation from the St. Louis Blues for signing restricted free agent Dylan Holloway last summer, while Edmonton also has their own sixth- and seventh-round picks.

It’s also worth noting that the Oilers have already moved a couple of their draft picks in 2026. They dealt their first-round selection to the San Jose Sharks for Jake Walman ahead of the trade deadline, while their fourth-round pick was moved last year in exchange for Troy Stecher.

With that in mind, it doesn’t seem likely that Edmonton will trade to move up in the draft like they did last year. The Oilers dealt their 2025 first-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2024 draft to acquire the No. 32 overall pick, which they used to select Sam O’Reilly of the London Knights.

• Round 1 – No. 31 overall traded to Philadelphia Flyers (June 2024)
• Round 2 – No. 63 overall traded to Arizona Coyotes (June 2022)
• Round 3 – No. 83 overall acquired from St. Louis Blues (August 2024)
• Round 3 – No. 95 overall traded to San Jose Sharks (August 2024)
• Round 4 – No. 127 overall traded to Anaheim Ducks (March 2024) 
• Round 5 – No. 159 overall traded to Anaheim Ducks (March 2024) 
• Round 6 – No. 191 overall 
• Round 7 – No. 223 overall 

Restricted Free Agents

Among the biggest stories of the summer for the Oilers is the next contract signed by defenceman Evan Bouchard. He’s coming off a two-year bridge deal and is now due for a major raise — one that will significantly shape Edmonton’s cap structure moving forward.

Edmonton lost two restricted free agents last August when Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg signed with the St. Louis Blues. It was an unexpected wrench in the team’s off-season plans that created holes on the roster that needed to be filled during the season. With that in mind, it’s safe to assume the Oilers won’t wait around with Bouchard this summer.

Bouchard was among the most productive defencemen in the league during those two seasons, putting up 149 points in 163 regular-season games for the Oilers. He also put up huge numbers in the playoffs, scoring 55 points in 47 games over Edmonton’s back-to-back Stanley Cup Final runs.

With just two more years left of team control before he can become an unrestricted free agent, the 10th overall pick from the 2018 draft is set to be paid like a top-pairing defenceman. After another strong playoff showing, $10 million annually could be the number for Bouchard.

Two other notable restricted free agents are Noah Philp and Olivier Rodrigue. Both players made their NHL debuts in 2024-25 and would have to go through waivers to be assigned to the American Hockey League. Philp is vying for the fourth-line centre spot with the Oilers, while Rodrigue seems poised to be the starting netminder with the Bakersfield Condors.

• D – Evan Bouchard
• F – Jacob Perreault 
• F – Noah Philp (Arbitration Eligible)
• F – Cameron Wright (Arbitration Eligible)
• G – Olivier Rodrigue (Arbitration Eligible)

Unrestricted Free Agents

The Oilers have a handful of depth players set to hit the open market on July 1 as unrestricted free agents and safe to assume some of them will be back in 2025-26. Trent Frederic is reportedly nearing an eight-year contract, while Corey Perry has expressed an interest in staying with Edmonton.

Connor Brown and Jeff Skinner will become free agents again after signing one-year deals with the Oilers last summer. John Klingberg’s one-year contract from January is also expiring. Kasperi Kapanen, who signed a one-year deal with the Blues before Edmonton claimed him off waivers in November, will also hit free agency. Minor-league veterans Derek Ryan, Travis Dermott, Drake Caggiula, Lane Pederson, and Collin Delia have expiring contracts as well.

A couple of prospects, Phil Kemp and Ronnie Attard, are set to become Group VI unrestricted free agents this summer — players who are 25 or older, have three professional seasons, and have played fewer than 80 NHL games, making them UFAs instead of RFAs.

Kemp, a right-handed defender, was selected by the Oilers in the seventh round of the 2017 draft and has played five seasons with the Condors since finishing his NCAA career with Yale. Attard, another right-handed defender, was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round of the 2019 draft. The Oilers acquired Attard in a trade in November.

• F – Connor Brown
• F – Trent Frederic
• F – Kasperi Kapanen
• F – Corey Perry
• F – Jeff Skinner
• D – John Klingberg
• F – Drake Caggiula
• F – Lane Pederson
• F – Derek Ryan 
• D – Ronnie Attard 
• D – Travis Dermott
• D – Phil Kemp
• G – Collin Delia

Contract Extensions

The other big story in Edmonton this summer is Connor McDavid’s next contract. The captain is entering the final season of his eight-year, $100 million deal in 2025-26 and is eligible to sign an extension on July 1.

Last summer, Leon Draisaitl agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth a record-setting $14 million annually. McDavid was paid $12.5 million annually on his last contract and will surely jump over Draisaitl on his next deal.

Though most who follow the Oilers closely expect McDavid to sign another long-term contract with the team that selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft, the noise around him leaving won’t end until pen touches paper.

Transaction Season

New contracts for Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard are top priorities for the Oilers this summer. Even if those deals aren’t signed until later in the off-season, the front office will make decisions in free agency with the potential future cap hits of both players in mind.

The Oilers didn’t commit to any expensive, long-term contracts last summer — the longest were three-year deals given to Mattias Janmark and Josh Brown, both worth less than $1.5 million annually.

Most of the deals Edmonton made in July of 2024 were for one or two years. It’ll likely be the same case again this summer as the team wants to maintain flexibility around their core players. A conservative estimate for McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard’s combined cap hit is $40 million.

• F – Leon Draisaitl ($14 million)
• F – Connor McDavid ($12.5 million)
• F – Zach Hyman ($5.5 million)
• F – Evander Kane ($5.125 million)
• F – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5.125 million)
• F – Viktor Arvidsson ($4 million)
• F – Adam Henrique ($3 million)
• F – Mattias Janmark ($1.45 million)
• F – David Tomasek ($1.2 million)
• F – Vasily Podkolzin ($1 million)
• F – Max Jones ($1 million)
• D – Darnell Nurse ($9.25 million)
• D – Mattias Ekholm ($6 million)
• D – Jake Walman ($3.4 million)
• D – Brett Kulak ($2.75 million)
• D – Ty Emberson ($1.3 million)
• D – Troy Stecher ($787,500)
• G – Stuart Skinner (2.6 million)
• G – Calvin Pickard ($1 million)
• Jack Campbell Buyout ($2.3 million)
• Bonus Overage Carryover ($250k) 
• Total Projected Cap Hit (83.5 million)
• Salary Cap Ceiling (95.5 million) 

There’s plenty on general manager Stan Bowman’s plate this summer, but the mission is clear — Keep the core together, find cap wiggle room, and come back in October ready to take another kick at winning the Stanley Cup.