Edmonton Oilers lose Connor Brown to another team in free agency
The Edmonton Oilers have lost their third player of the day to open up free agency.
Viktor Arvidsson was traded to the Boston Bruins, Corey Perry signed with the LA Kings, and now Connor Brown will leave Edmonton to sign with the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils announced the four-year deal for Brown, which will carry a cap hit of $3 million.
Black and Red's going to look good on Brown. pic.twitter.com/s4R015zf9c
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) July 1, 2025
That falls in line with previous reporting that the 31-year-old was looking for more term on his next deal, after signing two consecutive one-year contracts with the Oilers. With Edmonton having just $4.5 million in available cap space, there was next to no chance that they would be able to match that offer for Brown.
Brown had a decent year in the Alberta capital, scoring 13 goals and 30 points in 82 games and adding five goals and nine points in 20 playoff matches.
When you combine the contracts that they signed, both Perry and Brown would have cost about $6.5 million against the cap. The notion going into the summer was that Oilers GM Stan Bowman wanted his team get younger and signing two players over the age of 31 went against that line of thinking.
Edmonton will need to find a way to replace the players they lost today. Those three combined for a total of 47 goals last season. When you add Evander Kane to the list of casualties, it gets that much more concerning.
It’s very early in free agency, but Bowman will have to start to find ways to add to the roster, rather than subtract.