page_title: Edmonton Oilers
section_title: Connor McDavid era (2015–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Edmonton Oilers / History / Connor McDavid era (2015–present)
caption_attribution_description: English: Connor McDavid at the 2015 Edmonton Oilers Development Camp, July 4, 2015. (cropped) Please credit Connor Mah if re-used elsewhere.
context_page_description: The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. They compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference.
  The Oilers were officially founded in 1971 by W. D. "Wild Bill" Hunter and Dr. Chuck Allard. The team played its first season in 1972, as one of the twelve founding franchises of the major professional World Hockey Association. They were originally intended to be one of two WHA Alberta teams, along with the Calgary Broncos. However, when the Broncos relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, before the WHA's first season began, the Oilers were renamed the Alberta Oilers. They returned to their current name in the following year, and subsequently joined the NHL in 1979 as one of four franchises absorbed through the NHL merger with the WHA.
  After joining the NHL, the Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup on five occasions: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1989–90. Along with the Pittsburgh Penguins, they are tied for the most championships won by any team since the NHL-WHA merger and also the most won by any team that joined the league in or after 1967.
context_section_description: The Oilers won the 2015 Draft Lottery that took place on April 18, thus moving them from the third overall pick to first overall, marking their fourth lottery win in six seasons. The Oilers used the pick to select Connor McDavid first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft held in Sunrise, Florida, on June 26.
  On April 24, Craig MacTavish was removed from his position as general manager and was replaced by former Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli, who was also appointed president of hockey operations as part of other related changes. On May 19, Todd McLellan was named the new head coach of the Oilers. He and his former team, the San Jose Sharks, mutually agreed to part ways on April 20 after the Sharks failed to qualify for the 2015 playoffs. More coaching changes came on June 4 when it was announced Keith Acton and Craig Ramsay had been relieved of their duties and would not be returning for the 2015–16 season.
  In addition to these coaching changes, the Oilers also made some changes to their scouting staff on June 22, which saw both head amateur and professional scouts Stu MacGregor and Morey Gare relieved of their duties. Amateur scouts Brad Davis and Kent Hawley, professional scout Dave Semenko and Billy Moores, who served as director of coaching and special projects, were also relieved of their duties. Further changes came on October 7 when the Oilers elected to begin the 2015–16 season without a team captain; this marked the first time they had done so since entering the NHL, in 1979. Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Andrew Ference, who had served as team captain the previous two seasons, were all named as alternate captains.
  Upon the conclusion of the 2015–16 season, the Oilers prepared to move from Rexall Place, their home since 1974, to the newly built Rogers Place. On April 6, 2016, in their final home game at Rexall, the Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6–2. Before the game, the Oilers held a ceremony honouring the history of the arena. Oilers' alumni, including Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky, skated around the rink one more time.
  In a one-for-one trade on June 29, Edmonton dealt all-star winger Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for defenceman Adam Larsson. On October 5, 19-year-old Connor McDavid was named the 15th captain of the Oilers; McDavid is currently the youngest named team captain in NHL history, having broken the record previously held by current Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog.
   
  On March 28, 2017, the Oilers made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2006. In the first round of the 2017 playoffs, the Oilers eliminated San Jose following a 3–1 win in Game 6 to secure their first playoff series win in 11 years. Their playoff run was stopped on May 10, 2017, losing to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 with a 2–1 loss, ending the second round series.
  In April 2015, Peter Chiarelli was named president and general manager. In his first year as general manager, he traded first- and second-round picks to the New York Islanders in exchange for Griffin Reinhart. In 2016, the Oilers acquired a third-round draft pick in return for Justin Schultz, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the 2017 off-season, the Oilers traded forward Jordan Eberle to the New York Islanders in exchange for Ryan Strome to gain salary relief. The Oilers signed their captain Connor McDavid and forward Leon Draisaitl to 8-year contracts worth $100 million and $68 million, carrying annual cap hits of $12.5 million and $8.5 million, respectively. The Oilers had high expectations coming into the 2017–18 season, as many expected to make progress off of their surprising year in 2016–17. However, the Oilers regressed, posting a 36–40–6 record and missing the playoffs for the 11th time in 12 seasons. Free agent signings of note and term during Chiarelli's tenure included Mikko Koskinen, Milan Lucic, Benoit Pouliot and Kris Russell. On January 22, 2019, the Oilers terminated Chiarelli's employment as president and general manager; Keith Gretzky was appointed interim gen
caption: The Oilers drafted Connor McDavid first overall in the 2015 draft. He was named the Oilers' 15th team captain in 2016.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D7000", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2015:07:04 18:09:42", "Image ExifOffset": "218", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "926", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "15097", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1250", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:07:04 10:33:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:07:04 10:33:20", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1040241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "290241/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "170", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "255", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "5069796", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[70, 300, 9/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6"}