The 2024-25 NHL season is a little under two months away, but one fan-favourite Edmonton Oilers player is still without a contract for next season.
After returning for a third separate stint with the Oilers last season, 35-year-old Sam Gagner is still looking for a new place to continue his NHL career as his one-year deal with Edmonton expired this summer.
He is coming off a decent season with the Oilers, but it was one that saw him get limited playing time during the regular season and none in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final.
The new NHL season is a little under two months away and Sam Gagner is still without an NHL contract.
Now 35, Gagner put up five goals, and 10 points in 28 games with the #Oilers last season. He did not play in a single one of the team’s 25 playoff games.
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) August 12, 2024
Though he remains a fan favourite among the Oilers faithful, it seems unlikely that he will sign an extension with Edmonton for the upcoming season. That notion is based on the Oilers already being stacked with forward depth down the lineup and the fact that the team didn’t use him all that much last season.
Gagner initially entered the NHL in 2007-08 after getting drafted sixth overall by the Oilers in the 2007 NHL draft. He spent the first seven seasons of his career playing in the Alberta capital before being traded to the Arizona Coyotes in the summer of 2014.
From there, he bounced around to several teams, including the Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks, before eventually getting traded back to the Oilers ahead of the 2019 NHL trade deadline.
Gagner’s second stint with the Oilers was a brief one, as he was traded a year later at the 2020 deadline to the Detroit Red Wings in a deal that saw Edmonton acquire Andreas Athanasiou.
The veteran spent two full seasons in Detroit before eventually signing a one-year deal with the Winnipeg Jets for the 2022-23 season, during which time he surpassed the 1,000 NHL games played milestone.
His most recent stint with Edmonton came this past season after he signed on to a one-year deal that carried a cap hit of $775,000.
Even though his time as an Oiler is most likely over, there will be loads of fans hoping he can find a new home somewhere else in the league.