The 2026-27 NHL season represents a very key season for the Edmonton Oilers as a franchise. It is the first season of a two-year contract that captain and franchise cornerstone Connor McDavid signed before last season.
On top of that, the team has to attempt to climb back from their fall from grace last season that saw them eliminated in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks. This followed two seasons where they made the Stanley Cup Finals back-to-back.
Oilers have veterans in key positions
According to eliteprospects.com, the Oilers currently rank 13th oldest team in the NHL with an average age of 28.8. This represents a very slight drop from their average age at the beginning of last season being 28.9. Although the team let one of their veteran depth forwards walk in free agency in Adam Henrique, the team still has a number of aging core pieces.
Up front, Zach Hyman is a top line winger who plays shotgun alongside McDavid and is 34 years old with an extensive injury history and plays a hard-nosed style. The injuries alone give him a fair bit of risk but combined with the age, it does not seem sustainable. Although, Hyman has been known to subvert expectations and has done it throughout his entire career.
Former first overall pick, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is another player who typically plays top-six, many times top line minutes also alongside McDavid and at 33 years old is on the decline, especially given his production the last two seasons.
On the backend, top pair shutdown defender Mattias Ekholm is 36 years old and although defencemen like Ekholm who rely on their brain and decision making tend to age more gracefully, father time is undefeated. The Swedish blueliner is entering the first year of a three-year contract, carrying a full no-movement clause.
As well, second-pairing shutdown defenceman Connor Murphy who the club re-signed in June will be 34 years old next March. He is a player who has logged over 800 NHL games who has relied heavily on his physical tools, averaging two blocks and two hits per game over his career. He is in the first of a five-year extension that has a full no-movement clause for the first three seasons and a modified no-trade clause for the final three.
In addition to these players, newly signed goaltender Frederik Andersen at 36 years old makes him one of the oldest on the team and one of the oldest regular goalies in the NHL ahead of next season. Fresh off a Stanley Cup victory, Andersen at his peak was one of the most underrated and solid goaltenders in the league. He has a history with new head coach Mike Babcock, who had him as his starting netminder with the Toronto Maple Leafs for multiple seasons.
Andersen also has a history with injuries, battling blood clots just a couple seasons ago. He is signed for just one season and carries a bonus-laden contract with a base cap hit of $1 million which makes him a very safe gamble for the Oilers but still further shows a reliance on aging veterans.
Oilers lack the longterm stability
Plenty of teams carry veteran players at various positions with many having them on the depths of their roster. This is not the case for the Oilers, who have two top-six forwards that are 33 years old or above, two top-four defenceman that are 33 or older, and one goaltender that is 36. Beyond them, the Oilers enter the season with over 10 players who are at least 30 years old, on their roster, many of who are key names and hold key positions within the lineup.
The one issue with carrying so many veterans and relying so heavily on their veteran pieces is that it gives your team a lack of stability, especially in the long term. The Oilers as a result are a very volatile team that risks having the wheels completely fall off in short order. Veteran players are more susceptible to injury issues and declines in performance, which would seriously hurt the Oilers chances of getting back to Stanley Cup contention.
This is especially true of a team like the Oilers whose prospect pool, which lacks high end talent, would be unable to reliably replace these players. The club has also not positioned itself well should these players experience declines as three of the five mentioned above have no-movement clauses and all have at least some trade protection.
2026-27 is an important year and could potentially be the last of the McDavid era. Whether it is or is not, it is shaping up to be a big season for the franchise and the fans.
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