According to a team press release, the Edmonton Oilers have signed defenseman Connor Murphy.
His deal will last five-years at $4.1MM per year, which will pay him $20.5MM total until 2031, when he’ll turn 38 years old. Details of the contract include a full no-movement clause from years one through three, when it’ll open up to a 16-team approved trade list in years four through five, per Puckpedia.
The 33-year-old right-shot defenseman spent 20 games in Edmonton, scoring four points and adding three in six playoff games after being traded north of the border by the Blackhawks on the last year of a four-year, $17.6MM ($4.4MM AAV) contract. In Chicago, Murphy played 60 games this past season before the trade, scoring 13 points in his ninth season with the club, leading the Blackhawks in blocks (87) and notched the second-highest short-handed ice time per game (2:57) at the time of the deal. Notably, he saw his usage on the blueline increase drastically, going from playing 16:34 of ice time per game in Chicago to 20:27 with Edmonton.
His game profiled as a player who could step up, skate, and defend well against a tough matchup; however, AFPAnalytics had his projection at a mere two years, making $3.6MM a season. Murphy cashed in for what is surely to be his final major contract. He joined fellow teammate from Chicago, forward Jason Dickinson, who the Oilers also extended not long ago at a five-year deal for $20MM.
Originally the 20th overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft, Murphy was selected by the Arizona Coyotes organization. He was one of thirty players in the NHL in 2025-26 who were originally drafted by the Coyotes, who are no longer an active team.
Murphy spent two seasons with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting before officially joining the NHL in the 2013-14 season. He ended up playing four years with his initial team before the Coyotes sent him in a package deal to Chicago for Niklas Hjalmarsson in the summer of 2017, just one year into the six-year, $23.1MM ($3.85MM) deal he signed with Arizona. In Chicago, tanking years with the Blackhawks proved not favorable, as Murphy saw just one playoff run in the Bubble in 2020. Extending to stay in 2022, he remained with Chicago up until this year’s trade deadline, where they retained 50% of his cap hit and took in a 2028 second-round pick from the Oilers for him.
In committing $8MM to their two former Blackhawk acquisitions, the Oilers have just $7.4MM in cap space remaining for the summer of 2026. As they approach July 1st, they still have notable free agent forwards to assess who remains with the team in Adam Henrique, Curtis Lazar, Kasperi Kapanen, Jack Roslovic, Max Jones, and RFA Colton Dach.
Six defenseman are currently under the Oilers’ books, but one particular player can add money for Edmonton to utilize for their 2026-27 roster. Darnell Nurse, who requested a trade, might force the Oilers to take on a portion of the $9.25MM cap hit that he’s owed for four more years in the event a deal is agreed upon. Regardless, Edmonton will free up more space as the Oilers try to maximize the cup-contention window of Connor McDavid, after two-straight Stanley Cup finals losses were followed up with a first-round exit this past playoffs to the Anaheim Ducks.
More to come.
