One of the quieter questions floating around the Edmonton Oilers offseason right now and that matters more than is being given credit for is if Connor Ingram will be coming back?
He's a UFA on July 1. Other teams are already sniffing around. The Oilers haven't committed to anything and the cap situation makes it genuinely complicated. Let's take a look at what we actually know.
Ingram was the Oilers' best goalie this season. That's not really a high bar given what went on in that crease all year, but it's still true. He finished 16-10-3 with a .899 save percentage and a 2.60 GAA, the best GAA of his career, and was Edmonton's clear number one by the time the playoffs came around.
His contract, the three-year deal he originally signed with Utah back in 2023, expires at the end of this season. Cap hit was $1.95 million, with Utah retaining $800,000 of that when Edmonton acquired him in October. So the Oilers were getting him for about $1.15 million on the cap. That's a bargain for what he gave them during the regular season. But that deal is done.
Connor Ingram is drawing attention from Atlantic Division teams
The most direct thing we've heard came from Ottawa insider Bruce Garrioch, writing in the Ottawa Citizen. His read: the Oilers will likely try to keep Ingram before July 1, but the goaltending situation in Edmonton is under the microscope and other teams are circling. Garrioch specifically noted that several clubs see Ingram as a reliable, affordable option in what is a very thin UFA goalie market this summer.
Former NHLer and TSN analyst Jamie McLennan, in conversation with Garrioch, put it simply: "Connor Ingram is one of the names that you'd have to look at."
Ottawa has been directly linked as they need a backup for Linus Ullmark and Ingram fits the budget and the role. But it's not just the Senators. Multiple Atlantic Division teams are reportedly doing homework on him.
Then there's the Oilers' own internal view. The Hockey Writers' Edmonton beat, citing reporting from within the organization, put it bluntly in their recent offseason checklist: the Oilers aren't necessarily sold that Ingram is the right fit going forward. The key line is "if they can upgrade at the position, they will." That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for a reunion.
The Jarry problem
Another real wrinkle that makes this complicated is the Tristan Jarry situation.
Jarry has two years left on his contract at $5.375 million per season. He was, to put it charitably, awful in Edmonton after being acquired from Pittsburgh for Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and a second-round pick. He lost the starter's job to Ingram and became the most expensive backup in the league by the end of the year.
The Oilers still have him on the books unless they can move him. And moving him almost certainly means eating cap space or attaching picks to make it happen.
So here's the crunch. If Edmonton keeps Ingram and can't move Jarry, they're carrying roughly $7.3 million in cap toward a goalie tandem that didn't get them out of the first round. In a year where the salary cap jumps to $104 million and the Oilers have about $16.5 million in projected space, every dollar counts.
Oilers have $7.975m tied up in goaltending next year in Jarry and Campbell (buyout) and still to sign a starter. Ouch.
— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) May 1, 2026
If Edmonton lets Ingram walk and finds a way to dump Jarry, they can blow the whole thing up and start completely fresh in goal. That's actually an option on the table (maybe the most aggressive option) but it requires moving Jarry, which is its own challenge.
Keeping Ingram still makes sense
The counter-argument for bringing him back is also worth taking seriously. The UFA goalie market this summer is genuinely weak. The big names are all under contract and would require trades. On the pure free agent side, Ingram and Stuart Skinner as the two most notable UFAs available.
If Edmonton swings and misses on a trade for a legit number one, they're stuck. And a Jarry-only crease with no reliable backup is a nightmare scenario. Ingram at whatever his new number is, probably somewhere in the $3.5-4 million range given his strong regular season and a thin market could make sense as a bridge option while the organization figures out its long-term answer.
There's also the angle that Ingram played well enough in the regular season to deserve another shot. His playoff numbers hurt his case, but the team in front of him was compromised as McDavid and Draisaitl both played through injuries, and the defence was a sieve. One can't put all of that on the goalie.
The most likely outcome
Reading the tea leaves right now, it feels like Ingram is probably gone. It's that the conditions might not come together for a reunion.
If the Oilers land a big trade for a true starter, Ingram's role shrinks to backup, his market value on the open market likely exceeds what Edmonton is willing to pay for that role, and he walks. If they can't make a big goalie trade, they might try to keep him, but other teams are going to make him an offer and the Oilers' cap situation complicates matching it.
The Jarry contract is the thing that might force the decision. Edmonton essentially has to figure out what they're doing with Jarry before they can have any clarity on Ingram. If Jarry stays and Edmonton adds someone else on top of that, Ingram doesn't fit. If Jarry goes, suddenly the math works differently.
As Jason Gregor noted when laying out the situation, this Oilers summer is going to be all about trades and not contracts. Ingram is a contract decision. That might be exactly why he ends up being the casualty.
Will Ingram be back? Right now it looks more likely he won't be, but it's genuinely unclear.
What is clear is that Edmonton will try to retain him if their bigger goaltending plans fall through, other teams want him, his market value is going up in a thin free agent class, and the Jarry situation is the variable that controls everything.
Watch the Jarry situation closely. Whatever happens there will tell you almost everything you need to know about whether Ingram is wearing an Oilers jersey on October 1.
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