Edmonton Oilers complete roster signing that could matter more than it looks
|
Daniel Lucente
May 25, 2026 (4:01 PM)
|
|
Photo credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Aku Raty arrives as Edmonton still has no head coach, which makes this signing more than a depth add.
The Oilers signed Raty to a one-year, two-way contract carrying an AAV of $850,000.
Edmonton is still built around expensive top-end talent, so every bottom-six bet has to carry real cap value.
Raty gives Stan Bowman a right-shot forward who can be parked in Bakersfield, pushed in camp, or used as injury cover without squeezing the NHL roster.
Another low-cost forward enters the internal competition.
Raty is not being sold as a finished NHL piece. He is being signed because the Oilers need more cheap players who can force harder decisions.
Aku Raty turns Edmonton's depth chart into a camp fight
His 2025-26 season in Finland gives the move some bite: 57 points in 51 games with Karpat, including 20 goals and 37 assists.
That was a team-best total, and it tied him for seventh in Liiga scoring.
The Oilers are buying a player who has already handled pro minutes, not a long-range draft idea.
Raty also has North American experience. From 2023 to 2025, he posted 69 points in 120 AHL games split between Tucson and Rockford.
The NHL sample is tiny, but not empty. He has 1 NHL game and 1 assist, which came against Edmonton on April 17, 2024.
This is the kind of signing that looks small in May and becomes useful in October if the bottom six gets crowded, injured, or too expensive.
For Edmonton, the message is simple: camp jobs will not be handed out. Raty just made that race deeper.
Also read on HockeyLatest :
Carolina's firing could backfire as Montreal may use it as a rallying point in Game 3
Carolina's firing could backfire as Montreal may use it as a rallying point in Game 3