The Edmonton Oilers have done an excellent job of keeping their core group together. The biggest extension was Connor McDavid’s, who agreed to a two-year deal earlier this month. Immediately afterward, the Oilers locked up Jake Walman on a seven-year deal before coming to terms on a three-year extension with Mattias Ekholm.
The Oilers also signed Trent Frederic to an eight-year deal during the offseason and worked out a three-year extension with Vasily Podkolzin. While both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard remain pending unrestricted free agents, they aren’t the most important players who need to be re-signed.
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That would be Brett Kulak, who is in the final season of a four-year deal worth a team-friendly $2.75 million annually. Oilers fans know how reliable the 31-year-old has been during his time in Edmonton. His ability to play up and down the lineup and in both ends of the ice has been a huge benefit for the organization, even if he doesn’t get a ton of credit outside of it.
With the lack of blue line prospects in the organization, the Oilers would love to get Kulak locked up past this season. He still has plenty of hockey left in him and has proven to be reliably consistent on the backend. Despite all the good things he does, however, management needs to be very careful with what they offer him.
Oilers Need Bargain Contracts
Despite McDavid’s massive discount, the Oilers have to be careful with their spending. It’s unclear where the salary cap will land next season, and even as it goes up, the Oilers aren’t likely to have a ton of money to hand out. With McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard all commanding north of $10 million, and Darnell Nurse making $9.25 million, management needs to ensure their other contracts have reasonable cap hits.
While some have suggested that Walman’s contract may be a slight overpay, there is no question that Ekholm took a discount on his new extension at just $4 million. To keep Kulak around, the Oilers have to be hoping he’s willing to sacrifice some money in similar fashion to try to win a Stanley Cup.
The problem is that, before this deal, Kulak had never signed a contract worth more than $1 million annually. In other words, this could be his final chance to cash in on his actual market value.
After averaging just over 20 minutes a game last season, Kulak has seen similar usage early in 2025-26. Playing relatively heavy minutes on a Stanley Cup contender doesn’t go unnoticed, and he could command a deal worth roughly $4 million annually for three or four years. But if he wants $4 million per season, the Oilers may have to look elsewhere.
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It’s not that $4 million is an overpay for Kulak, but the Oilers might be better off keeping that cap space open to add a scoring winger for their top six or a better goalie than their current options.
Oilers May Have Internal Replacements
Should the Oilers let Kulak become a free agent at the end of this campaign, they might not need to find a replacement. Alec Regula, who his locked up through 2026-27 at just $775,000, has looked solid so far. They also have another righty in Ty Emberson locked up through 2026-27 at a $1.3 million cap hit. Should either player take a big step forward, that might make management’s decision on re-signing Kulak that much easier, depending on his asking price.
