The Edmonton Oilers have retired eight jersey numbers, which leaves two single digits available: 1 and 8. Numbers 3, 4, 7 and 9 are retired, 2, 5 and 6 are on the current roster, and the last goaltender to wear number 1 in Edmonton was Laurent Brossoit in the 2017-18 season.
One number sits outside all three categories. Ryan Smyth is the only Oiler ever to wear 94, and nobody has worn it since he last played in 2014, but the club has never retired it.
Which Oilers jersey numbers are retired?
Eight, and unlike several clubs, Edmonton has never retired a number for two different players.
| No. | Retired for | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Al Hamilton | 10 October 1980 |
| 99 | Wayne Gretzky | 1 October 1999 |
| 17 | Jari Kurri | 6 October 2001 |
| 31 | Grant Fuhr | 9 October 2003 |
| 7 | Paul Coffey | 18 October 2005 |
| 11 | Mark Messier | 27 February 2007 |
| 9 | Glenn Anderson | 18 January 2009 |
| 4 | Kevin Lowe | 5 November 2021 |
Edmonton does not draw the distinction some clubs do between honoring a number and retiring it. The club’s Hall of Fame at Rogers Place honors names rather than numbers, and the Oilers have said they keep the numbers in circulation when they do. Ryan Smyth and Curtis Joseph are in it, and no number has come out of use.
Three of the eight were reissued before they were retired, which surprises people. Jason Arnott wore 7 for five seasons and Daniel Cleary wore it as late as 2002-03, before Coffey’s retirement in 2005. Taylor Hall and Kris Russell both wore 4 after Kevin Lowe, Russell as late as 2020-21, a season before it was retired. And four players wore 9 between Glenn Anderson’s two spells in Edmonton, Bill Guerin as late as 2000-01.
Every Oilers number in use for 2026-27
Twenty-nine numbers are on the roster.
| No. | Player | No. | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Evan Bouchard | 34 | Colton Dach |
| 5 | Connor Murphy | 35 | Tristan Jarry |
| 6 | Ryan Shea | 42 | Kasperi Kapanen |
| 10 | Trent Frederic | 43 | Owen Michaels |
| 13 | Mattias Janmark | 46 | Max Jones |
| 14 | Mattias Ekholm | 49 | Ty Emberson |
| 16 | Jason Dickinson | 53 | Isaac Howard |
| 18 | Zach Hyman | 75 | Alec Regula |
| 21 | Mathieu Joseph | 81 | Josh Samanski |
| 22 | Matt Savoie | 85 | Shakir Mukhamadullin |
| 24 | Spencer Stastney | 92 | Vasily Podkolzin |
| 26 | Alex Formenton | 93 | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins |
| 27 | Devon Levi | 96 | Jake Walman |
| 29 | Leon Draisaitl | 97 | Connor McDavid |
| 30 | Frederik Andersen |
No returning Oiler changed numbers for 2026-27. Every number new to the roster belongs to a new arrival.
Which Oilers jersey numbers are available?
Fifty-nine, and the two that matter are 1 and 8. Thirteen Oilers have worn 1, including Grant Fuhr before he switched to 31, and 27 have worn 8.
Three others came free and will not stay free long. Number 25 is available for the first time since 2014, after Darnell Nurse wore it for eleven consecutive seasons. Number 74 came open when Stuart Skinner’s run ended, and number 91 when Evander Kane’s did.
The full list: 1, 8, 12, 15, 19, 20, 23, 25, 28, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94 and 98.
Why has nobody worn number 94 since 2014?
Because of Ryan Smyth, and because the Oilers have left it alone without making it official. Smyth wore 94 across two spells in Edmonton, from 1995-96 to 2006-07 and again from 2011-12 to 2013-14, and he is the only player in franchise history to wear it. It has sat unissued ever since, like a retired number without the ceremony. Smyth is in the club’s Hall of Fame, and fans have launched an open campaign to retire the number properly. Until that happens, 94 appears on any list of available Oilers numbers but isn’t actually available.
How does Edmonton handle number 99?
The Oilers retired it themselves on 1 October 1999, at the home opener, four months before the NHL took it out of circulation across the entire league on 6 February 2000. Wayne Gretzky wore it in Edmonton from 1979-80 to 1987-88 and is the only Oiler ever to wear it. Because the club acted first, Edmonton didn’t need the league’s decision to retire the number, and Los Angeles retired it separately. It is the only number on this list retired twice over.
Which Oilers numbers have had only one owner?
Sixteen numbers have been worn by exactly one Oiler: 3, 11, 59, 61, 63, 68, 72, 78, 79, 87, 90, 94, 96, 97, 98 and 99. Three of them belong to the clearest cases in the franchise. Mark Messier wore 11 from 1980-81 to 1990-91, and nobody wore it in the sixteen years between his trade to the Rangers and its retirement. Connor McDavid has worn 97 since 2015-16, and no Oiler wore it before him. And Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has worn 93 for fifteen consecutive seasons, the longest unbroken run with one number in the club’s history, with only Petr Nedved ahead of him.
The opposite end is crowded. Numbers 15 and 20 have each been worn by thirty Oilers, and number 20 was worn by five different players during the 1993-94 season alone.
Has an Oiler ever been made to change number?
Once, and it was for a ceremony. Rem Murray wore 17 from 1996-97, and the Oilers retired the number for Jari Kurri on 6 October 2001, partway into Murray’s sixth season with it. Murray moved to 16 and finished the season there. It is the only case in the club’s history of a mid-season retirement forcing a player off a number.
The other number change worth knowing was a choice. Evan Bouchard wore 75 as a young defenceman from 2018-19 to 2021-22 and switched to 2 for 2022-23. Alec Regula wears 75 on the current roster, which is the number Bouchard left. Stuart Skinner did something similar in reverse, wearing 50 as a rookie in 2020-21 before taking 74, and Jesse Puljujarvi wore 98 in his first spell and 13 when he returned.
Where does this data come from?
Number histories were compiled from Hockey-Reference’s Oilers sweater-number records. The current roster was taken from the NHL’s Oilers roster, the retired numbers were checked against the NHL’s list of retired numbers.
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