Throw all of your custom-made Armchair GM Rosters out the window.

Connor McDavid signed a contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers that nobody saw coming. The captain re-upped for two more years at the same average annual salary of $12.5 million.

That means the best player in hockey won’t even be the highest-paid player on his team, let alone the league.

With Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov agreeing to an eight-year contract worth $17 million annually last week, McDavid will be wildly underpaid at $12.5 million when these contracts begin next year. For Edmonton, that makes life much easier when it comes to putting together a roster around the three-time Hart Trophy winner.

Here are the NHL players the Oilers have under contract for the 2026-27 season, along with their respective cap hits…

There will surely be additions, subtractions, and other contracts signed between now and the beginning of next season, but, as of right now, the Oilers have about $80 million tied into the 13 players listed above, along with the dead money owed for Jack Campbell’s buyout. (Apologies to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who I inexplicably missed the first time around)

The NHL’s salary cap is expected to rise to $104 million for 2026-27, which would give the Oilers just under $25 million to figure out the rest of their roster. That should be more than enough room to address the goaltending situation and add some quality depth on the wings and the blueline.

The Oilers will also have plenty of room to re-sign the players they want to keep around. Here are some notable names who are set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of next season…

Veterans like Ekholm, Kulak, and Henrique have been very effective for the Oilers, but none of them were acquired by Stan Bowman, and the front office might favour a younger roster over continuity. If the Oilers don’t re-sign those three, they’ll need to look for two top-four defenders and a versatile middle-six forward to replace them.

The goaltending situation is also wide open. Skinner, Pickard, and the newly acquired Ingram are all free agents at the end of the upcoming season. Bowman has faith in how Skinner and Pickard can perform with a new goalie coach, and Ingram is an interesting flyer to take as well, but there’s potential to overhaul the entire tandem next summer.

We can stop there because it’s obviously way too early to be speculating about next off-season. Still, the moral to the story is that the Oilers are in a considerably better position given the discount McDavid took on this contract. There should be no excuse when it comes to building an elite supporting cast during these upcoming seasons.