Oilers, David Tomasek Terminate Contract
Dec. 29th: Insider Frank Seravalli confirmed that Tomasek has cleared waivers after being designated yesterday. Both sides are now free to officially terminate his contract.
Dec. 26th: Oilers forward David Tomasek is expected to sign with the Swedish Hockey League’s Färjestad BK after the holiday roster freeze lifts on Sunday, Jonas Griberg and Johan Ekberg of Värmlands Folkblad report.
Tomasek has already left Edmonton and returned to Sweden, according to the report. The Oilers can place Tomasek on unconditional waivers on Sunday, allowing him to formalize the termination and register a new contract with Färjestad on Monday.
The 29-year-old right winger is ticketed to return to the squad where he had immense success over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons before attempting to kickstart an NHL career by signing a one-year, $1.2MM deal with Edmonton in April. He led the league in at least one major statistical category on both occasions and was named the SHL’s Most Valuable Player last season with a 24-33–57 scoring line and +5 rating in 47 games.
Tomasek was technically left off the Oilers’ opening-night roster due to salary cap constraints, taking advantage of his waiver-exempt status to send him to AHL Bakersfield. However, he was recalled the next day and made his NHL debut on the fourth line with Adam Henrique and Isaac Howard. He recorded an assist, but the lack of ice time wasn’t conducive to his ability to make an impact on the scoresheet.
The one-time World Championship gold medalist has good size at 6’2″ and 210 lbs, but doesn’t play a particularly physical game, profiling more as a one-way offensive threat and power play specialist. That made him an unnatural fit in a bottom-six checking role, serving the dual purpose of not allowing him to demonstrate enough skill to push his way into a top-nine job and see meaningful even-strength time with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Tomasek will end his stint in Edmonton with three goals, two assists, and a -6 rating in 22 appearances, averaging 10:46 of ice time per game. He had been a healthy scratch in six straight contests, last appearing against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 13.
The cap impacts are significant for the Oilers, who will be immediately relieved of his $1.2MM cap hit upon termination. Since they’re dipping into their LTIR pool to stay cap-compliant, they’re not accruing cap space. Removing Tomasek won’t change that, but it will increase their current cap space from $612.5K to $1.81MM, giving them more flexibility to reinstate one of their four LTIR-bound players in Connor Clattenburg, Kasperi Kapanen, Noah Philp, and Jake Walman.
Image courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.
Oilers Recall David Tomasek, Move Zach Hyman To LTIR
Oct. 7: While Howard remains down for now, Tomasek has been recalled today after the club set their LTIR capture with Zach Hyman, the club announced. Hyman will remain out until early November while rehabbing the wrist injury that ended his 2025 postseason run prematurely.
Oct. 6: After doling out extensions to Connor McDavid and Jake Walman earlier today, the Edmonton Oilers are hustling to become cap-compliant when opening night rosters are due. In that effort, the team announced they have placed forward Mattias Janmark on the injured reserve, reassigned forwards Isaac Howard and David Tomasek, and recalled forward James Hamblin from their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.
Most of today’s cap crunch is because of Janmark. The nine-year veteran is reportedly dealing with an undisclosed injury, which will keep him sidelined for a week or so. Since he’s not expected to miss much time, the Oilers won’t get any cap relief from his $1.45MM salary. He scored two goals and 18 points in 80 games for Edmonton last season, with another three goals and four points in 22 postseason contests.
The biggest casualty of today’s cap crunch is undoubtedly Howard. The reigning Hobey Baker Award winner was acquired by the Oilers this offseason after failing to reach a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and was expected to fill an important need for Edmonton in their top six — inexpensive talent.
He made a strong case to make the roster this preseason, scoring one goal and four points in six games, which makes today’s move a much more difficult pill to swallow. Still, he’s likely to debut with the Oilers at some point this season. In his final season in the NCAA with the Michigan State University Spartans, Howard recorded 26 goals and 52 points in 34 games.
Meanwhile, Tomasek, 29, becomes another casualty of Edmonton’s cost-clearing moves. Although he is no longer considered a prospect, he joined the Oilers this summer by signing a one-year, $1.2 million contract as an international free agent.
Like Howard, he was another inexpensive addition by Edmonton this summer that the team could conceivably put in their top-six. As the reigning Guldhjälmen Award (MVP) winner in the SHL from a season ago, Tomasek recorded 24 goals and 57 points in 47 games for the Färjestad BK.
Of all the forwards the Oilers could have recalled, Hamblin gives them the most flexibility since he cleared waivers a few days ago. The former WHL standout will begin his sixth season with Edmonton. He spent all of last year in Bakersfield, scoring 19 goals and 45 points in 51 games as one of the team’s assistant captains.
According to PuckPedia, after today’s moves, the Oilers now sit a tight $834, yes, you read that correctly, under the upper limit of the salary cap to start the season.
Oilers Sign David Tomasek To One-Year Deal
The Oilers announced they’ve signed free agent center David Tomasek to a one-year contract for 2025-26 worth $1.2MM. The 29-year-old is expected to end up on Edmonton’s opening night roster next fall.
Tomasek, a 6’2″, 187-lb center, lands his first NHL contract after spending the last 10 seasons in top-level professional leagues across Europe. The Prague native can play both down the middle and at right wing.
While he’s long been an effective scoring presence overseas, 2024-25 saw Tomasek reach new heights. After leading the Swedish Hockey League in goals last year, he took home the overall scoring title by posting 24-33–57 in 47 games for Färjestad BK. He managed only two assists in six playoff games as his club was upset by Skellefteå AIK in the quarterfinals of the SHL playoffs, though, ending his season Monday.
A well-rounded offensive talent and heavy power-play contributor overseas, Tomasek has experience in four of the best leagues in Europe – the SHL, Czech Extraliga, Finland’s Liiga, and the Kontinental Hockey League. He was at his peak in Sweden with Färjestad, though, posting 49-53–102 in 99 games for the club over the last two seasons. Hitting the point-per-game mark in the SHL is no easy feat – only three qualified players did it this season, the most since eight did it in 2021-22. Tomasek’s 1.21 points per game cleared Penguins prospect Filip Hallander‘s 1.04 by a significant margin for first place.
Tomasek’s professional career has also involved stints with HC Dynamo Pardubice, JYP, HC Sparta Prague, and Amur Khabarovsk. He’s clicked around a 0.60 points-per-game pace with those clubs before joining Färjestad.
While it’s Tomasek’s first NHL deal, it’s not his first time playing in North America. He played his youth hockey in Michigan before playing a pair of major junior seasons with the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League in 2013-14 and 2014-15, recording 26-32–58 in 119 games there while going undrafted by an NHL club.
Tomasek becomes the 11th forward Edmonton has on a one-way deal next season. They have no pending RFAs up front on the NHL roster, although minor-league names like top prospect Matthew Savoie should be considered likely to make a push for an opening-night job. That, along with what should be limited cap space after working out a new deal for star RFA defenseman Evan Bouchard, means the Oilers won’t be very active up front on the NHL free agent market this summer. A couple of cap-clearing trades could make things easier – veterans Viktor Arvidsson and Evander Kane are some candidates there – but it’s clear Edmonton’s priority lies with acquiring low-cost talent to help fill out their depth lines next year. The Oilers also signed German center Josh Samanski to an entry-level deal earlier today, but he’s likely ticketed for AHL Bakersfield out of the gate.