Oilers sign Aku Räty to one-year, two-way deal for 2026-27
Edmonton added Aku Räty on a one-year, two-way deal, betting his 57-point Liiga season and 120-game AHL résumé can help Bakersfield and NHL recall depth.
Edmonton’s latest depth move says as much about its 2026-27 plan as it does about Aku Räty himself. By giving the 24-year-old a one-year, two-way contract with an NHL average annual value of $850,000, the Oilers signaled that they want a forward who can score in Bakersfield and still be ready for recall duty when the NHL roster needs help.
Räty arrives with a recognizable AHL résumé and a fresh scoring line from Finland that suggests he is still producing at a meaningful clip. In 51 games for Kärpät Oulu last season, he posted 20 goals and 37 assists for 57 points, a total that led the club and tied for seventh in Liiga. CBC also reported a plus-eight rating and 36 penalty minutes, a useful snapshot of a player who contributed at both ends while staying involved physically.
The key question in Edmonton is straightforward: is Räty being signed as a Bakersfield driver, an injury-recall option, or both? The answer may well be both. He has already played 120 AHL games between Tucson and Rockford, and in that time he put up 21 goals and 48 assists for 69 points. That track record matters for a Condors team that needs forwards who can slide into different roles without a long adjustment period. Räty has shown enough passing skill to function as a setup winger and enough finishing touch to chip in as a scorer.
The organizational context makes the move more interesting. Bakersfield clinched a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs on April 9 with a 5-2 win over Tucson, then returned to the postseason after missing in 2025. The Condors also had two AHL All-Rookie Team forwards in Isaac Howard and Quinn Hutson, which means Räty joins a group already carrying upside and expectations. Adding a player with both North American mileage and recent European production gives Edmonton another layer of insurance around a roster that will likely need movement between the NHL and AHL all season.
Räty’s profile also carries draft and NHL history. Arizona took him 151st overall in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft, and his lone NHL game came against Edmonton on April 17, 2024, when he picked up an assist. For an Oilers organization that leans on Bakersfield to supply ready depth, that is the kind of low-risk, practical signing that can matter later than it does now.
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