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Oilers Working On Long-Term Extension For Jake Walman

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The Edmonton Oilers have a lot of work to do leading up to the season. Besides the elephant in the room, Connor McDavid, a UFA at season’s end, Frank Seravalli told Bleacher Report that the Oilers are making progress on a Jake Walman extension. Rumblings of such were previously discussed earlier in the month, and now it is believed to be a longer-term deal in the works, which could happen soon. 

Walman, 29, was acquired last March after a successful turnaround stint in San Jose, for a conditional 2026 first-round pick and fringe prospect Carl Berglund, proving to be tidy business from GM Mike Grier and the Sharks. The blue liner appeared in 38 combined regular and postseason games for the Oil, tallying 18 points and averaging over 20 minutes a night. 

Originally drafted 82nd overall in 2014 by the St. Louis Blues, the Toronto native established himself as an everyday defender with the Detroit Red Wings, netting a three-year, $10.2MM contract, only to be salary-dumped to San Jose after the 2023-24 campaign. Having proven himself once again, Walman seems to have found himself in a favorable situation in Edmonton, with an opportunity to take on a bigger role in the future as well. 

Walman could be due for a five-to-six-year deal in the $6.5MM annual range, according to AFP Analytics.

With Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse the only notable defensemen signed beyond the 2025-26 season, and well over $10MM in current defenders to be freed up, GM Stan Bowman has the opportunity to overhaul his d-corps, as the Oilers look to build the right supporting cast for their mega stars, and finally get over the hump toward a Stanley Cup. It is hard to ignore Mattias Ekholm, 35, another UFA at season’s end, and the possibility of Walman slotting in as a potential long term replacement on the left side – either entirely, or if the veteran Ekholm is re-signed with a more age-friendly role. 

Whether McDavid, or the supporting cast, it will be interesting to see which shoe falls first in Edmonton, and perhaps we will have an answer by season’s start. 

Oilers’ Vasily Podkolzin Takes Leave Of Absence

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Oilers winger Vasily Podkolzin will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the club after his father, Alexander, “suddenly and tragically passed away last night,” the team said in a press release. He’s returned to his native Russia in the interim.

Whenever Podkolzin is ready to return – an understandably wide-ranging timeline – he’ll be walking into a top-nine role in Edmonton. The 24-year-old played in all 82 games for the Oilers last year and saw notable deployment alongside Leon Draisaitl as a checking winger, putting together an 8-16–24 scoring line while averaging 13:13 of ice time per night. He also led Edmonton in hits by a wide margin with 211.

That was enough to earn him a three-year extension with a $2.95MM cap hit, a deal he signed just yesterday. He otherwise would have been a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer after inking a two-year, $2MM deal with the Canucks in April 2024. Edmonton acquired him from Vancouver via trade before he played a game under that contract.

If Podkolzin does not return to the Oilers before the beginning of the regular season, he can be designated as a non-roster player and will not count against their 23-player roster limit. His current $1MM cap hit, however, would still count against their books. If he’s expected to miss at least 10 games and 24 days from the start of the campaign, they can place him on long-term injured reserve for potential salary relief if necessary.

All of us at PHR extend our condolences to the Podkolzin family.

Latest On Kris Knoblauch

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  • Insider Darren Dreger reported on TSN’s Insider Trading segment that Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch and Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska are both entering the final season of their current contracts, and while neither coach has a firm extension offer on the table, both coaches are names to watch entering 2025-26. Knoblauch has been nothing but a success in Edmonton, and although a Stanley Cup championship remains elusive, he’s still widely respected for guiding the team to back-to-back Western Conference titles. Huska hasn’t had the same level of success as Knoblauch, though he also doesn’t get to dress Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in his lineup on a nightly basis. While the third-year coach didn’t reach the playoffs in either of his first two seasons on the job, he oversaw a stellar rookie campaign from netminder Dustin Wolf and improved the team’s performance in 2024-25 compared to where it was in 2023-24.

Oilers Sign Vasily Podkolzin To Three-Year Extension

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The Oilers and Vasily Podkolzin will avoid restricted free agency next summer. The club announced it has signed him to a three-year extension carrying an AAV of $2.95MM for a total value of $8.85MM. The deal breaks down into a $1MM signing bonus and $1.95MM base salary each season, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports.

Back in April of 2024, Podkolzin had agreed to a two-year, $2MM deal with the Canucks that looked to keep the former top-10 pick in Vancouver for another couple of years. He never played a game for the club on that contract, though. After the Oilers lost winger Dylan Holloway to an offer sheet four months later, they moved to recoup some forward depth and acquire Podkolzin from the ’Nucks in exchange for a fourth-round pick. That was a buy-low price for the 2019 draft choice, who had two years of term and four years of team control remaining. He was set to have arbitration rights next summer, but instead will walk to unrestricted free agency in 2029 with this extension.

In Edmonton, Podkolzin reestablished himself as an NHL regular after spending his final few seasons in Vancouver watching his playing time dwindle. He skated in all 82 games for the first time, supplying an 8-16–24 scoring line with a +1 rating while averaging a career-high 13:13 per game. He spent a good portion of the year up in the top six as a checking presence on Leon Draisaitl’s line, although he more routinely moved to bottom-six duties when the postseason rolled around. The 6’1″, 190-lb Russian led the club with 211 hits in the regular season and finished second among Edmonton forwards with 53 blocks.

Podkolzin, now 24, no longer has the offensive ceiling Vancouver hoped for when they selected him 10th overall six years ago. He’s nonetheless solidified himself as a reasonably valuable middle-six checking presence, although his point production still leaves much to be desired given how much time he saw along Draisaitl at even strength last year. He did score 14 goals in 79 games in his rookie campaign with Vancouver back in 2021-22, though. If he can rediscover that shooting touch, his nearly $3MM cap hit over the next few years should be more palatable as the cap continues to rise. If not, that’s a bit of a gamble the Oilers are taking on a type of talent that could be easily replaceable for a lower salary on the free agent market.

The Oilers now have nearly $62MM in salary commitments to just 12 players for their 2026-27 active roster. That leaves them with over $42MM in space to fill up to 11 jobs – a relatively reasonable target, but a number that will also drop quickly if they manage to extend franchise center Connor McDavid in the near future.

Jack Roslovic Believed To Have Declined Offer From Oilers

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One of the biggest free agent surprises this summer is that forward Jack Roslovic remains a free agent.  Coming off matching his career high in goals last season with 22, the belief was that he’d land a multi-year deal with a raise from the $2.9MM he received last season; we had him ranked 20th in our annual Top 50 UFA list.  Instead, as the preseason gets underway tonight, he’s still on the sidelines.

That isn’t to say that he hasn’t had offers, however.  In his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), Pierre LeBrun reports that the Oilers are believed to have made a pitch at some point during the summer, one that was declined.  Considering that they’re very tight to the Upper Limit of the salary cap, it stands to reason that the proposal may have come very early in free agency before their roster was filled out.  Otherwise, the offer would have needed to be relatively close to the minimum salary for them to stay cap-compliant.

As much as Roslovic has bounced around recently (he has played for three different teams in the last year and a half), he has been able to provide some decent consistent secondary scoring.  He had 39 points last season, extending his streak to five straight years of recording more than 30 points.  Between that and his ability to play down the middle when needed, Roslovic seemed to be in better shape than he was last summer when he ultimately accepted a one-year deal from Carolina.

LeBrun notes that Roslovic’s desire remains to secure a multi-year contract and he has changed to being represented by ASM’s Justin Duberman (he was previously repped by 4Sports’ Claude Lemieux).  Whether that will be enough to get the term and money he’s seeking remains to be seen but with most rosters set heading into the season, it won’t be easy.

Oilers Targeting November Return For Zach Hyman

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Top Edmonton Oilers winger Zach Hyman will need just a bit longer to recover from the wrist fracture he sustained in the 2025 Western Conference Finals. In speaking with reporters ahead of training camp on Thursday, head coach Kris Knoblauch shared that Hyman’s goal will be to return by November 1st, per TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. That will set Hyman up to miss the first 12 games of the Oilers’ season. The high-scoring winger spoke more in-depth about his injury during an extended press conference this morning.

An extended absence is no way to start a season, especially for Hyman – who hasn’t played fewer than 73 games in a single season in any of his four years with the Edmonton Oilers. He has been a pillar of lineup consistency and averaged over 19:30 in ice time through 308 games with the Oilers. He’s averaged a lofty 38 goals per 82 games played with Edmonton, leaving the Oilers with a major hole to fill right out of the gate.

Who will step up will become the question to be answered at training camp. Top Oilers prospects Matthew Savoie and Ike Howard seem poised to break camp with the team, but their readiness to fill a top-line role has yet to be proven. Superstar centers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl could mitigate those concerns – and give the reigning Hobey Baker Award-winner, Howard, and the second-highest Bakersfield Condors scorer, Savoie, a chance to show their full potential.

If not one of their top prospects, Edmonton could also turn towards the veteran presence of a player like Andrew Mangiapane. Mangiapane is in his first season with the Oilers after spending last year racking up 28 points in 81 games with the Washington Capitals. He brings 498 games, and 243 points, worth of NHL experience – though has never filled a consistent top-line role.

Latest On Zach Hyman, Jake Walman

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  • The Nation Network’s Jason Gregor reported today that Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman won’t be on the ice with the rest of the Oilers for the first week of the club’s training camp. Hyman is still dealing with the wrist injury that knocked him out of last season’s playoffs, one that required offseason surgery. Hyman declined to establish a specific timeline related to his recovery. The 33-year-old is one of the Oilers’ most important forwards, scoring 54 goals and 77 points in 2023-24 and 27 goals last season.
  • Oilers defenseman Jake Walman will begin the season playing on his off-hand side alongside Darnell Nurse, per Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. Walman is a left-handed defenseman who ended last year playing on the left side alongside John Klingberg, but will now take up a role next to Nurse on what will presumably be the Oilers’ second pairing. Walman is entering a crucial contract year and if he can repeat his strong 2024-25 performance (he had seven goals, 40 points) he could line himself up to cash in nicely in free agency.

McDavid Not Seeking Specific AAV In Contract Talks

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  • With Oilers superstar Connor McDavid entering the final year of his contract, some are surprised that a deal hasn’t been signed yet. In his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), Chris Johnston relays that the center isn’t believed to be seeking a specific number in terms of AAV.  The benchmark on that front has moved several times in recent years with his teammate Leon Draisaitl ($14MM) now the leader.  It’s widely expected that McDavid will surpass that number by a sizable margin but there isn’t a particular target in mind.

Latest On Jake Walman

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  • The Edmonton Oilers made one of the better mid-season additions of the 2024-25 campaign when they traded for then-San Jose Sharks defenseman Jake Walman. Walman’s success in Edmonton on their run to a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final could mean the organization is interested in signing the player to an extension, as he is currently slated to hit unrestricted free agency at the end of 2025-26. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector reported today that Walman’s agent, Wade Arnott of Newport Sports Management, was in Edmonton yesterday for in-person talks related to an extension for his client. Walman’s current contract carries a $3.4MM AAV, but after a 40-point season, it is likely he will receive a strong bump in pay on his next deal. AFP Analytics currently projects Walman to receive a $6.5MM AAV on a projected five-year contract term on the open market.

Oilers Holding Jarventie Out Of Rookie Games

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  • Although he plausibly could have been at Edmonton’s rookie camp, the Oilers elected to not have Roby Jarventie participate as a precaution, relays Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. The winger was limited to just two games last season due to a knee injury and briefly signed in Finland for this year before having a change of heart and re-upping with Edmonton.  Rookie tournament games tend to be a little more erratic than preseason ones so it isn’t surprising to see them not taking any chances.  Jarventie has seven NHL games under his belt from his time with Ottawa and could be in the mix for ice time with the Oilers this season if he’s able to stay healthy.

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