The Oilers announced Sunday that center Jason Dickinson has signed a five-year, $20MM extension with a $4MM cap hit. Mark Spector of Sportsnet had reported Saturday there was “very positive movement” toward an extension that would keep him with the Oilers and off this summer’s unrestricted free agent market.  PuckPedia reports the breakdown of the deal is as follows:

Edmonton is likely to announce another pending UFA extension this week while also solidifying their successor to Kris Knoblauch behind the bench, Spector added. There’s now only 10 days until the opening of free agency with Connor Ingram, Connor Murphy, and Jack Roslovic among the several other names the Oilers are at risk of losing to the open market.

It’s no surprise general manager Stan Bowman diverted significant resources toward retaining Dickinson. He paid a steep price to acquire the 30-year-old bottom-six center from the Blackhawks at the trade deadline, parting ways with a first-round pick in next year’s draft to bring in both him and Colton Dach.

Still, his performance with the Oilers down the stretch makes the choice to retain him questionable. Brought in for defensive help, Dickinson posted the worst possession numbers of his career in his 17-game stretch with Edmonton to end the regular season. Averaging over 15 minutes per game, the Oilers controlled just 39.5% of shot attempts with Dickinson on the ice at 5-on-5 while he provided just one goal and three assists. He was more successful offensively in the postseason, recording a pair of goals and an assist in four games in their first-round loss to the Ducks, but was in and out of the lineup due to a lingering leg injury he sustained at the end of the regular season.

Edmonton is down to over $10.5MM in cap space with five roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia. Dickinson’s strong defensive performance over the last few seasons in Chicago had him projected to land him a four-year deal just north of $5MM annually on the open market this summer, AFP Analytics projects. Edmonton gave him an additional year of term to save a bit on cap, but that’s still a hefty commitment to a player who’s averaged just nine goals and 22 points per 82 games over the past two seasons, especially on an Edmonton club that already struggles to generate offense from its bottom six.

The Oilers have handed out some ill-advised extensions to aging bottom-six pieces recently, namely Adam Henrique – another pending UFA. They’ll hope the same pattern doesn’t repeat with Dickinson, who will be 35 years old when his new deal expires in 2031.