The Oilers reclusive and normally media-shy owner has publicly stated that he expects the Oilers to be Stanley Cup contenders, therefore he wants his GM to go after it. So with this in mind I tried to figure out a way to maximize cap space to make room for the players that should help push this team to the top.
The James Neal contract is the biggest hurdle, but 2 years of pain (essentially $2,750,000 with the Lucic retention) in this instance, is far better than 4 years of $1.9 million, if bought out this season. This clears a total of $4.25 million after 2 more seasons and it will be needed. He looked much better at the end of the season after struggling to recover from the effects of Covid and will provide solid leadership, size and perhaps a few goals to a younger team.
The very popular and human buzz saw, Kailer Yamamoto, is sent with good, but still improving Ethan Bear to Carolina for the still-developing Morgan Geekie and the NCAA-bound Mercuri. Both Bear and Yamo are important pieces, but Edmonton is already a smallish team and this makes room for bigger and more established players. In Bear's case, it also makes room for Evan Bouchard. In Yamamoto`s case, it puts him on a larger team and allows him to have more impact in the bottom 6 where he won't have face all the top defenders and should thrive in a depth role.
As for UFA's Schwartz is signed to a 1-year show me deal as McDavid's Left Winger.
RNH does not get top dollar, but is given an 8 year deal as a LW.
Hamilton is brought in to form a solid minute-munching 1st pair D with Nurse.
Hyman is stapled to Draisaitl and replaces Yamamoto. Coleman and Danault are brought in to form a solid 3rd line duo.
Ryan McLeod is penciled in as 4C, with Derek Ryan on the roster to fill in as needed. Tyler Benson is reunited with McLeod where they tore it up in Bakersfield and Morgan Geekie is pencilled in ahead of Cooper Marody, the top goal scorer in the AHL and final piece of what had been the top line on the AHL Pacific Division Champions.
It is very possible that Dylan Holloway has such a good training camp that Benson does not win the 4LW role.
This will be the most important and most interesting offseason for the Oilers since the summer of 1988 (Gretzky trade).
I would hate to lose geeks but I really don’t mind that trade. If Carolina loses Hamilton then we probably pick up Barrie in FA to play with Slavin. Everything depends on if Dougie resigns
you could take out everything the devils trade to the oilers and they would still decline really easily imo
They could, but Johnsson was very underwhelming and the slightly cheaper Kassian likely has a lot of appeal given the lack of physical players on the team. As well, Boqvist is not having the expected impact and the much bigger Maltsev is eating his lunch in the CF department.
Koskinen is better and has much more experience than previous back-ups in New Jersey. He does very well with a smaller workload, and would be an ideal fit there.
I would hate to lose geeks but I really don’t mind that trade. If Carolina loses Hamilton then we probably pick up Barrie in FA to play with Slavin. Everything depends on if Dougie resigns
If the owner opens his wallet Hamilton will stay, but maybe you are right, he might see Barrie as a solution to the much more expensive Hamilton. FWIW, Bear is a much better all-around Dman than Barrie, he also has a ton of unrealized offensive potential.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
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