The Edmonton Oilers are in town for a Western Conference matchup as the Colorado Avalanche continue their five-game homestand. The Oilers will play their second game of a back-to-back tonight after taking a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.

The Edmonton Oilers will face the Colorado Avalanche in this NHL matchup at Ball Arena on Thursday, January 16th.WATCH: Oilers vs Avalanche Live | Stream free on FuboThe Oilers are second in the Pacific Division with a 28-13-3 record.

The Oilers need to sign both Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard to long-term deals this summer, but could they also fit in Mikko Rantanen?

First Period_1, Colorado, O'Connor 6 (Kiviranta, Rantanen), 5:17. 2, Colorado, MacKinnon 16 (de Haan, Drouin), 10:04. 3, Colorado, MacKinnon 17 (Toews), 11:48. 4 ...

Connor McDavid scored in his return from a three-game suspension, Mattias Janmark scored for the first time in 38 games, and Mattias Ekholm scored into an empty net.

Evan Bouchard scored with 6:55 left and the surging Edmonton Oilers overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 on Thursday night.

According to Puck Pedia, the Oilers will have $11.61 million of cap space next year, assuming the salary cap will be $88 million. Some say the cap will increase to at least $95 million, but potentially more, which would give Edmonton ample room to get some signings done.

This in from NHL insider Andy Strickland of St. Louis, his prediction on the Cam & Strick podcast that the Edmonton Oilers will sign Mikko Rantanen this summer. Rantanen, who is in the Top 10 NHL players,

While the Oilers currently have $5 million of available cap space, Edmonton will need to re-sign McDavid and defenseman Evan Bouchard to contract extensions this and next summer. That, however, won't be a problem for the Oilers in Strickland's eyes.

One advantage for the Carolina Hurricanes extending Rantanen is they can now go eight years with other teams only seven. The Hurricanes might also propose deferred payments as they did for Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin. Rantanen has the same agent, Andy Scott, as Leon Draisait; and they didn’t go for the Edmonton Oilers offer of deferred payments.

On Friday night, the Carolina Hurricanes made a blockbuster deal with the Colorado Avalanche, acquiring Mikko Rantanen in exchange for Martin Necas and Jack Drury.

Which NHL teams could be interested in potential free agent Brandon Saad? There's speculation about the Blues forward and players on the Islanders and Rangers.