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Does Mattias Janmark have a spot on the 2026-27 squad? | 31 Oilers Questions (Day 7)

Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Ryley Delaney

Aug 9, 2026, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 9, 2026, 19:40 EDT

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This August, Oilersnation will ask one question about every Edmonton Oilers player projected to be on the 2026-27 roster in preparation for the upcoming season. From Connor McDavid to Mattias Janmark, let’s ask some questions.

It’s been a few seasons to forget for Mattias Janmark. His first season with the Edmonton Oilers came in 2022–23, scoring 10 goals and 25 points in 66 games. Since then, his production in the regular season has been minimal at best, scoring just seven goals and 28 points over 194 games in his past three seasons.

Granted, Janmark has been far more productive in the postseason. During the Oilers’ 2024 playoff run, he scored four goals and eight points in 25 games, the same number of goals as he scored in the regular season. The following postseason saw him score three goals and four points, edging out his two goals in the regular season.

Before undergoing season-ending surgery, he had scored just one goal and eight points in 43 games, another unproductive season, so he didn’t play any postseason games either.

By all accounts, Janmark should be ready for training camp. But that begs the question: Does he even have a role on the 2026–27 Oilers?

Does Mattias Janmark have a spot on the 2026-27 Oilers?

Janmark, 33, is entering the final season of his three-year deal, which carries a cap hit of $1.45 million. In hindsight, the contract is a little confusing, as are the rest of the moves during the 2024 off-season. At the time, it made sense; Janmark was coming off a strong postseason relative to his role.

Not only did he score four goals and eight points, but the Swede was a key piece to one of the best penalty kills in National Hockey League postseason history. They didn’t allow a single power-play goal in two separate series, and killed off 34 consecutive penalties, with the Florida Panthers breaking up the streak late in a power play.

Janmark himself scored two goals on the penalty kill, but better yet, the Oilers actually out-scored opposition 3-2 with Janmark on the ice during a penalty kill. It’s not a small sample size either, as he was on the ice for nearly 50 minutes, the second-most among Oilers forwards and fourth-most on the team.

The veteran’s play has dropped off significantly since then, but so too has their penalty kill. A 94.3 per cent penalty-kill percentage in the 2024 playoffs plummeted to 67.1 per cent in the 2025 playoffs. Without Janmark (and Adam Henrique) on their penalty kill in the 2026 playoffs, they posted went 50 per cent in their short-lived run.

It’s an area that needed improving this off-season, and they have done just that by adding Ryan Shea and Mathieu Joseph, while also re-signing Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson. Janmark is still a solid penalty killer, so if he has a role on the team, he’s a good bet to be a factor.

Whether or not he makes the team is a big if. As it stands, Daily Faceoff’s daily line tool doesn’t even have him in the lineup. The team’s depth is in a solid place, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jason Dickinson, Kasperi Kapanen, Joseph, Josh Samanski, and Trent Frederic pegged to be in the bottom-six.

Other players fighting for a bottom-six spot are Colton Dach, Max Jones, Quinn Hutson, and Owen Michaels. This doesn’t even mention any other potential signings that the Oilers make before the start of the season.

For the first time in a long time, the Oilers have significant cap space heading into the season, sitting at just over $4.7 million, according to PuckPedia. It’s not impossible to see the Oilers sign someone like Vladimir Tarasenko.

Even without an additional signing, Janmark’s spot on the 2026–27 roster is in peril thanks to his lack of production the past three seasons. It’s not hard to envision the Oilers burying his contract in the American Hockey League in an attempt to accumulate even more cap space ahead of the deadline.

There is a chance that they wish to keep him as the 13th forward over the likes of Jones, Dach, Hutson, and Michaels due to penalty-killing and being a veteran. However, being a solid penalty killer only goes so far. We’ll likely see him at points this season, but he won’t be a regular.

31 Oilers questions in 31 days…

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on X at @Ryley__Delaney.

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