Ken Holland has been busy trying to make the cap work for the Edmonton Oilers the best he can, and that included some tough decisions. Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin were traded to the Detroit Red Wings to free up potentially $4.5 million of what they would be paying the two next year. The Oilers will likely not be able to keep another couple of players who were on their 2022-23 team and have other additions to make.
The Oilers currently have a hole at right wing in the top six and a couple of depth roles to fill in free agency at forward due to all of the player movement that has gone on. Holland joined Oilers Now to discuss some of his thoughts heading into free agency and said the team needs to sign three or four depth players that can come up from the American Hockey League (AHL) in case of injuries. But more than that, they also have to fill in their actual roster.
Connor Brown is, of course, a name that has been heavily linked to the Oilers. Insiders like Chris Johnston believe Brown will likely sign a “low-dollar deal” with some performance bonuses and that the Oilers are in the driver seat to get the contract done, something he spoke about live. As the frontrunners, I do think it’s too good of a situation for Brown not to join Edmonton with a chance to reunite with his former teammate Connor McDavid from the Erie Otters and have a great opportunity to reach those performance bonuses on a line with the league’s only 150-point player in well over 20 years.
Now that Mattias Janmark is officially signed, that leaves a couple of NHL depth roles to still fill (from “The Edmonton Oilers should return most of their 2022-23 roster…if the price is right: 9 Things”, Edmonton Journal, June 25, 2023). One of those will most likely be a centerman for the fourth line, and the other will potentially be someone who is comfortable playing both center and the wing in the role Devin Shore played this season.
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The main objective is to get Evan Bouchard signed first and foremost. It’s looking more and more like a bridge deal is in order as the cap situation will be something to deal with later on when the salary cap hopefully makes big leaps in 2024. Ryan McLeod is also a big concern for the Oilers as he’s young and very much on the rise. Once he puts it all together, the Oilers will have to pay him more. Unfortunately with both of them needing new contracts this year, the Oilers are only in a position to hand out short-term lower average annual value (AAV) deals.
Breaking down the roster, the Oilers have nine forwards, six defencemen, and two goalies signed who should all be in the NHL to start next season. Assuming Bouchard and McLeod get signed for 1-2 years at a combined $5-5.5 million, that leaves just about $2.5-3 million to sign the remaining 3 NHL players as the Oilers have $7.9 million to work with at this time. As for more depth signings that Holland talked about, their salary won’t count against the cap if they’re not in the NHL and are making under $1 million AAV. The Oilers do have players like Brad Malone, Raphael Lavoie, and James Hamblin who could be those players already, but I think there will be better and more impactful options available this year. Malone and Hamblin did get in some games, but they did nothing special, just filled a role that needed to be filled.
One area that Holland could definitely dip into is the many players who weren’t qualified by their teams or players recently bought out. June 30, the last day of the first buyout window, saw some very intriguing buyouts, old and young, and many interesting young players with potential who were not qualified.
Related: Oilers Should Reunite with Recently Bought Out Yamamoto
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This season Holland did the exact strategy he is trying to execute again, adding fringe NHL players that will help the prospects along in Bakersfield or actually have an impact at the NHL level. This was done through Janmark and Kostin as they were forced to start the 2022-23 season in the AHL before joining the Oilers once Evander Kane got injured and there was cap space. It worked out for Edmonton, and Holland is hoping to replicate that and find success again. I don’t expect the Oilers to be in on any big-name players like fans might hope, but there is an opportunity to get valuable depth pieces this season. The wait isn’t long now.