Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As always, I’ve got a post-draft, pre-free agency mailbag ready to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their take on whatever’s on your mind. This week, we’re discussing Jake Walman’s next contract, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins chasing 1000 games, Ty Emberson, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

Five years would be a good term and an AAV between $5.75-6.4m seems fair to me.

I’d do my best, if I were management, to give him the $6 million that’ll come off from Mattias Ekholm next summer. He’s already 30, so I wouldn’t want to go more than six years either.

If you could get him sub-$6 million on the extension for four years I think that would be perfect. He turns 30 in February and I’m more concerned about the term on him than I am the money.

A very solid player. He is better on the PP than at 5×5, but also solid on the PK. The fact he isn’t afraid to drop the mitts once every few years, and do well, has endeared him to many fans. He will join Kevin Lowe as the only players to play 1000 games as an Oiler, and if he plays 79 games he will pass Lowe for most games played (1,038). RNH was never the best player on the team, and at times underwhelming at 5×5, but he’s had an very good career with the Oilers.

The player who stuck around when everyone left and he found success because of that. He’s the guy you never have to worry about because you know he’ll show up one way or another.

A jack of all trades that can (and does) play in all situations, and he did it without so much as a complaint even during the hardest seasons in franchise history. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may not be the statistical GOAT, but he’s a spiritual version in every possible way.

He will need to move the puck quicker. He got hit way too much for a player who doesn’t play that many minutes. He needs to come into camp and show Mark Stuart he deserves to be on the first unit PK. The Oilers desperately need a RD who can be reliable on the PK. Bouchard did quite well in the playoffs, but he can’t be on the top PK and PP unit.

I expect he’ll be the 6th/7th defenceman again and will be a dependable everyday player. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they upgrade on his position, again, at the deadline.

I expect that he continues developing into an every-day shutdown defenceman. He needs to work on his puck movement to be truly effective as he tends to hang onto the puck for a split second too long more often than we’d like.

I expect Edmonton and Vegas to battle for first. LA will be close as well and if Vancouver stays healthy they will be in the mix. Calgary had a great year last year, but I think they will hard-pressed to match the 96 points they had last year. I think Anaheim will take a big jump and be in the playoff mix. Seattle and San Jose will be the bottom two teams.

Edmonton and Vegas compete for the division, LA finishes comfortably in third, and the Anaheim Ducks push Vancouver for a 4th/wildcard spot.

Edmonton and Vegas are the two big horses in the Pacific Division. I’m mostly intrigued by Calgary because of how close they got to making the post-season last year, and I think they can get in if Dustin Wolf keeps playing as well as he did in 2024-25.

Staying healthy. No off-season injuries.

They didn’t overspend on a garbage free agency class.

Getting the McDavid extension done, so we can stop hearing about it.

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