Drake Caggiula has signed a new contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

Great Cheap Signing! On a Great rookie who should become a solid top 6.

Thats not "cheap" for a 4th liner. That's a huge overpay.

its 1.5 million relax. Its good numbers for a 4th/3rd liner with potiential

Watch the Oilers every game, I don't see the potential. And $1.5M is $1.5M, could be better spent elsewhere. Why is this the first RFA signing of the summer anyhow? Shouldn't Chiarelli get the more important ones done first? You know, Nurse, Benning, Strome. He's going to get into July and find that he doesn't have enough cap room to sign a core player because he wasted $2.5M on a backup and $1.5M on a 4th liner.

Dude did you hear what I said??? He is going to become a top 6 forward soon!!!

He's not a rookie, he has played 2 seasons already. And he already has lots of top-6 experience, with almost nothing to show for it except a history of dragging McDavid down to average.

exactly! 8,6M left for 4 roster pots (only to get to 12+6, not a 23 player roster), including Nurse and Strome. Strome should be upwards of 3M, so Nurse will have to be kept on a bridge deal (and then **** hits the fan in 2 years/next year when Puljujärvi needs a contract [if he can live up to expectations]) or Strome has to be let go.they could really need the extra 400k instead of spending them on a 4thliner. so either that or theyh ave a good plan to rid themselves off the contracts of Sekera, Russell and Lucic..

Apparently there is a plan to trade Lucic this summer, but I'll believe it when I see it. Also, bridging Nurse for 3 years is the right move, as Russell and Sekera will be off the books at that time.

He is a rookie actually! In the NHL's view as he is 23 years old and is still and RFA. Every rookie has his bad year, he is only dragging down McDavid because he is currently having his bad year. It will get better.

No he is NOT a rookie. Google what constitutes a "rookie" in the NHL and get some education.

How about you google this: https://www.nhl.com/news/edmonton-rookie-drake-caggiula-playing-big-role/c-289271736
Take a good look at the word "ROOKIE"

So someone who has two 60+ game NHL-seasons played is still a rookie?

Suuuuuure.

it's the right move for Edmonton sure, but why would Nurse want that? he's 23 now. a 3 year bridge deal would take him to 26, a subsquent long term deal to at least 31. at this point it's much more unlikely he'll get another big contract in FA than if he signed a 5-6 year deal now. his ELC slid twice so I'm not sure he's interested in a 3 year bridge deal and if so, you might be looking at 3,5M or so.

This is a good signing for a 23 year old who grew his game dramatically in college and has 2 NHL seasons under his belt already. He's a good 3rd-4th line guy. I don't see what the huge fuss is about.
The Oilers are going to have to move or buyout Sekera or Lucic to even have a chance at signing their RFA's anyways. This deal has almost no impact on that.

Referencing an old article to prove something today?! I'm pretty sure I can find an article on the internet that mentions "rookie Wayne Gretzky" or "President Reagan" - it doesn't mean the title still applies.

Yes, $3.5M sounds about right. I don't know whether Nurse is amenable to a bridge or not, but if he thinks his value in 2-3 years will be much higher than today he might go with the bridge.

That isn't true at all. There are numerous posts on the ArmchairGM section of this site that shows the RFA's all re-signed without any buyouts. And what is the big deal? Edmonton can get the same production out of Aberg, Rattie, Khaira and others for less than half the value of this contract. The signing itself isn't bad, it's just that the numbers are wrong.

Quote from one of the best-known Oilers fans:

"Relative Team mate % are essentially the total of WOWYs.

The Drake had the 2nd worst RelTGF% on the team behind Letestu.

The Drake has the 2nd worse RelTCF% on the team behind Pakarinen.

He’s an Oiler so I will cheer for him, but I’m not sure he’s an Actual NHL player."

It's cheaper then if they qualified him

Yes you can if you sign all of the RFA for deals that are team friendly and run a 21 man roster. But then the question is, "Is this team ANY better than it was last year?"

Buying out Sekera makes complete sense for the Oilers. He is replaceable by someone who makes $1-2M AAV. Even if he is replaced by someone with a 2M cap hit they are still saving cap room. With Klefbom and Nurse there is no reason to keep Sekera. If they can trade him great, I'm just not sure that will happen. Or trade him with 1.5M retained.

LOL. Dude, that article is from May 2017, which actually was Caggiula's rookie season so good job for that. A rookie is someone that is in their first NHL season, not just because they're an RFA. He's played two full seasons, ergo he is not a rookie. Are you saying that Jacob Trouba and Matt Dumba are rookies too?

I'll say they wasted 2.5 on a potential backup/failed experiment, but 1.5 for young forward with good skating ability and decent offensive upside/potential? No.

He will continue to add energy to their bottom 6, something that was severely lacking before he joined the club. With him, Slepyshev and Khaira adding jump to the bottom 6, the Oilers at least have potential to improve going forward. I'd agree that it would be nice if they could have filled this spot with a minor league development project, but lets be honest here: the Oilers don't have any of those.

You competely - and deliberately - missed my point.