This has been a very busy week for the Edmonton Oilers front office. Between preparing the club for the 2025-26 season ahead and locking up core pieces for the future, Oilers general manager Stan Bowman and company have undoubtedly put in a lot of late nights.
That is what it takes to win. Nobody knows this more than Bowman who has three Stanley Cup rings for his efforts with the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty team of the 2010's. Despite having to continuously replace key pieces on his roster, he was able to win multiple Cups and put together a true juggernaut team.
This is what he appears to be doing in Alberta's capital, tinkering and trying to gain a clear image of what the next few seasons will look like, cap wise. By locking up players now, he can take advantage of the massive rise in the projected NHL salary cap. He signed star forward Leon Draisaitl to a massive record breaking contract in September 2024.
Oilers core have taken hometown discounts
Locking up one of the most important franchise pieces for the max term eight-year deal, carrying a $14 million AAV. It took only one year for this to be outdone with Russian winger Kirill Kaprizov signing his extension with the Wild at a whopping $17 million per season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins started this trend for the Oilers back in 2021 when he re-upped for $5.125 million on an eight-year deal (puckepedia.com). This is well below what he could have gotten on the free agent market and was a pay cut from his previous $6 million AAV.
This trend has continued and it is what the Oilers core is showing now. Captain Connor McDavid, when up for extension people were throwing around $17 million or $16 million AAVs but he instead opted to re-sign for his current cap hit, $12.5 million.
It has even bled into Swedish defenceman Mattias Ekholm who signed his extension for three years at $4 million per season. A pay cut of $2 million a season from his current $6 million. He may be aging but if he opted to hit the open market in the summer, he likely would have received offers much better than that.
Oilers fostering a winning culture
There is a narrative that is always thrown around with star players about how the ones who want to win 'take less' to keep the team around. Although there are flaws to this, it is true to an extent. Players will typically take less so that their managers have more money to work with to make trades and in free agency.
This thought process seems to be resonating well within the Oilers locker room. Multiple key pieces have taken pay cuts, stayed at the same AAV, or have taken only slight raises in order to give the Oilers the most money possible to win.
It is hard not to when your captain, the best player in the world signs at the exact same dollar figure and repeatedly says how much winning matters to him. He shows his commitment to winning and to the Oilers.
This all proves that not only is Edmonton a desirable destination but that the culture is as strong as ever.