They need Murphy, the back-fill replacement for Brett Kulak defensively after Kulak was moved to Pittsburgh along with goalie Stuart Skinner so the money would work in the Tristan Jarry pick-up last December, to continue as their first-pairing penalty-kill guy, and a shutdown defenceman. He averaged 21:17 a game against the Ducks.<\/p>\n
Dickinson, 31 in July, and Murphy, 33, aren\u2019t in any hurry to leave a team with McDavid and Draisaitl, both enthusiastic about their short-time here, on the ice and with their families, but money talks and this is a very shallow free-agent pool with lots of buyers and not much inventory. So we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
\u2018Trying to feed off each other\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite being injured, Dickinson played well in the playoffs, scoring three points, including two goals in the team\u2019s Game 1 win, but he was\u00a0severely compromised.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard seeing what he was going through because I did it. It feels horrible. I hit him with the shot in San Jose and took him out. He\u2019s really tough, as long as I\u2019ve known through him he pushes through injuries,\u201d said Murphy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to feed off each other coming in. You want to see your friends succeed and that first playoff game, the two goals for us, that was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/41cd74b9c0352d1dc60de87f3250084a.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Edmonton Oilers forward Jason Dickinson scores a goal against Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal during first period NHL playoff action at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday April 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dickinson jammed his foot in his boot, averaging 12:14 game, but was far from as effective as he wanted to be against the Ducks.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally frustrating\u2026 I came here with one goal in mind and one thing I wanted to achieve and to go into the playoffs not feeling my best sucked,\u201d said Dickinson.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard mentally to wrap my head around. I really was day-to-day. I would wake up and if the ankle was swollen I could gauge how much I could do that day. How much pain I could handle or even get on the ice,\u201d said Dickinson, who missed Game 2 and 3.<\/p>\n
How did he get those two goals in Game 1, with the broken foot wedged into his skate boot, after he took a shot off his leg while standing in front of the net in San Jose on April 8?<\/p>\n
\u201cA ton of adrenaline. To be honest that was the best I felt. I hadn\u2019t been on the ice for 10 days, so it was OK. But putting the foot back into the boot after that, felt worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few more days of rest would have been great but the doctors did a great job making me comfortable. Game 2, there was no chance I would play. When I got to the rink, they looked at it and said no way. After that it was manageable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Game 5 I wasn\u2019t feeling great and sometimes I would take 15 or 20 second shifts, analyzing where the puck was turned over and whether we had a chance (to score). Was it worth it to get stuck out there on an extended shift. I definitely noticed (ankle) in that game and in others when the numbing was wearing off and I was feeling the pain again before I could see the doc again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickinson\u2019s injury should take four-to-six weeks for the bone to heal, and he said his off-season training won\u2019t be compromised.<\/p>\n
\u2018Loved it here\u2019<\/p>\n
After playing for the rebuilding Blackhawks, who been high up in NHL draft lottery for the last four years, Dickinson, would like to stick around with the Oilers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to win, I want to see success and then I want to take care of my family. Where is best for my girls, where it can be stable and secure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLoved it here. The crowd was amazing, the organization treats us fantastic, the city feels like home\u2026 I said to my wife it just feels like were driving around home and playing hockey. Everything feels so natural here,\u201d said Dickinson, who made $4.25 million with the Hawks.<\/p>\n
Murphy was everything the Oilers wanted in a shutdown defenceman, strong on the puck, strong on the opponent. He worked very nicely with Darnell Nurse as a partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was exciting from the day of being traded, I don\u2019t know\u2026 it gave me a renewed sense of desperation to build my game and play in the playoffs,\u201d said Murphy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s brutal to be out this early but it\u2019s good to know what that intensity felt like. The pressure was exciting. I\u2019m grateful to have been able to do that here. Definitely gives fuel for the off-season to keep pushing and to go farther.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do want to be back with the Oilers. You\u2019re in one place so long, nine years in Chicago, and you build a bond with that city and team but to have a new challenge, new people to feed off is really unique to experience. I\u2019m hopeful to continue that.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4863f17db5e592b9b904ee23371dce79.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Defenceman Connor Murphy speaks to the media after the Edmonton Oilers were eliminated in the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, in Edmonton on Saturday May 2, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2018Being here was awesome\u2019<\/p>\n
Maybe the Oilers would rather not go any longer than three years because of his age but he\u2019s younger than Mattias Ekholm, who turns 36 this month. He starts a three-year extension at $4 million AAV this upcoming season. So maybe four years for Murphy, who made $4.4 million in Chicago to keep him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a fit, a team has to want you, your family has to want it. My son, who is almost two, could be anywhere but my wife has really jelled with all the wives and girlfriends here,\u201d said Murphy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning should be the No. 1 priority for everyone, you want to win a Stanley Cup. That\u2019s why you play. I\u2019ve been at the bottom of the standings for a lot of years and it\u2019s brutal. You feel you\u2019re passing time until you get to the next season to build something.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing here was awesome and I want to be part of a good group that can go on deep runs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters<\/a>.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a perfect free-agent world \u2014 OK, July 1 is as much fantasy as frenzy \u2014 the Oilers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3072,4799,944,461,948,947,1772,3618,52,263,648,467,6015,5196,6027,3076,3073],"class_list":{"0":"post-31805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-brett-kulak","9":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","10":"tag-colton-dach","11":"tag-connor-mcdavid","12":"tag-connor-murphy","13":"tag-darnell-nurse","14":"tag-david-bloom","15":"tag-ducks","16":"tag-edmonton","17":"tag-edmonton-oilers","18":"tag-jason-dickinson","19":"tag-leon-draisaitl","20":"tag-mattias-ekholm","21":"tag-pittsburgh","22":"tag-spencer-stastney","23":"tag-stuart-skinner","24":"tag-tristan-jarry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}