Team: 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers

Initial Creation Date: Oct. 2, 2021

Published: Oct. 2, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

I see a few scenarios with how you sign Ekholm. Either you give him a shorter deal 3-4 years but then he would cost you 8m or maybe even more. That amount of money is not available here. You could give him 8 years if you aquire his rights for like a 3rd but even if you then could get him for 5m that term scares me too much to do it. 7 years is a bit rough but for 6m you get him on a great deal these upcoming 3-4 years and even after that it will be an ok contract. Might be bad the last season or maybe even the 2 last seasons but we gotta go for it while McDavid is on his contract which is nice and Draisaitl who is on the best contract in the league and our core are in their primes. Nuge, Nurse, Connor, Leon and Hyman. I think the 1st line is a legit 1st line for a contender with Hyman doing the dirty work winning puck battles, Puljujarvi playing aggressive, for-and backchecking and scoring some goals probably 30. McDavid driving the line getting the complementerary help he needs. Nuge, Drai and Yams is a great 2nd line might be the best one in the hole league. The depth is a questionmark here. I love Foegele in the 3rd line and Ryan even with his age will still be a good 2-way player with the right character. McLeod, Holloway and Benson are the game changers here. You've also got Lavoie, Cooper and Perlini. If the young guns cans step up you have a fun bottom 6 with exciting talent that is enought for a cup contender but if not it is back to basic with a depth that is lacking. The D looks so much better. Ekholm behind Nurse makes for one of the best left sides you can wish for and Koekkoek is decent aswell. Broberg might be able to slide in in a top 6 role but his development has been slow but he is a great talent with at least great top 4 potential. Barrie will play for 1 more year then you trade him and sign Puljujarvi to a massive 8 year 6.5m deal that will age very well. Bouchard will need to take the right steps tho. This season I expect him to be a good top 6 player but in this 2022-23 season he gotta take that top 4 role and then after that take a top 2 role so you can move Barrie. With 1 year left he won't be hard to move. I think a 2nd is fair for him especially if he comes with a new contract for a team that wants a good puck moving defensemen. Ceci is a bit expensive but is still good in that bottom role and we will have good use of him.

The goalie situation is just a mess and is difficult to try to fix. Fleury can still be a good keeper and gets payed well here. Smith idk about but he has been really good of lately but has a age that scares me. Korpisalo is still at a decent age and has been really good for Columbus after Bob left but then last season he put up the same or even worse number that Koskinen did. I think playing infront of a better defense and a better team overall with cup hopes could make him bounce back and if so you can then flip over the money Fleury makes to him signing him to a 4x4 or something like that.

Ratings

Forwards 8/10 this all depends on the young guns. If they play well it might aswell be 9/10 but if not it might be a 7/10 instead it all depends on them but I think they should be fine here.

Defense 7/10 I Nurse gets injured you still have Ekholm behind him. The right side is filled with 3 players that are all pretty decent and one them being a big talent that can hopefully take big steps this year. I think it could be sligthly better for me to be fully satisfied but Broberg and Bouchard are the game changers here if it works out or not, if it is a true contender or not.

Goalies 6/10 If one of them plays well that is enough for a cup team. If Korpisalo can bounce back that means you have your starter for the future and Skinner is just outside the door looking in and he wants to get a role in the NHL so next season you can hopefully roll with Korpisalo and Skinner. I wanted Elvis but he unfortunaly signed an extension is Columbus so this will do. If everything goes right they make it to the conference finals and there you never know how much further they could advance. The question is: If they face of against Vegas or Avs. What happends? Imagine Oilers vs Avs in the 3rd round if everything goes right in this sceanrio. One hell of a series that would be fun to watch. Overall the team is a strong 7/10

1.

2.

3.