freelancer

Edmonton • Canada • 25 Years Old • Male

That Whole Cap Thing

Two highly sought after free agents want to sign in Edmonton? Music! Dealing with the cap issues that will follow? Bad music... like country or something. If the Oilers bring in both Lucic and Demers here is what the team looks like without any other changes. In brackets I've included each players cap hit.

Hall (6) - RNH (6) - Eberle (6)
Lucic (6) - McDavid (3.775) - Yakupov (2.5)
Pouliot (4) - Draisaitl (3.4) - Puljujarvi (3.4)
Maroon (1.5) - Letestu (1.8) - Kassian (1.5)
Korpikoski (2.5) Lander (.98) Pakarianen (.725)

Klefbom (4.1) - Demers (5)
Sekera (5.5) - Fayne (3.625)
Darnell Nurse (1.71) - Davidson (1.2)

Talbot (4.1)
Brossoit (.750)

That forward group looks fantastic, the defense looks like we are finishing bottom 5 again. On top of that it really isn't cap compliant. That puts the forward group at just over 50 million, the defense at 21 million, and goaltending just under 5. In total that's about 75 million dollars. The cap for this season is 73 million.

A couple points to go over.

- This is assuming Draisaitl and Puljujarvi are hitting their bonuses.
- Lucic is rumoured to want 6 years at 6 million per season. While I would prefer Demers to be signed under 5 million a year, this is free agency and teams overpay.

Seeing this it should go without saying that the Oilers are going to have to move out some contracts, specifically on the left wing. Chiarelli then needs to find a way to add a top pairing right shot. Difficult but not impossible. Let's start by offloading some contracts.

Pouliot is the most likely candidate to go on the left side. He's a skilled top 6 winger on a decent contract. Many are suggesting signing Lucic and his 6 million means the Oilers have to move Hall and his 6. If the Oilers were to trade Hall it would be a safe bet that a defenseman would be coming back and there are only about 12 defensemen in the league that I would want to trade Taylor Hall for.

Drafting Puljujarvi potentially makes Eberle expendable. It could be risky but I would be inclined to move Draisaitl to the wing ahead of PJ. Leon started his early surge last season playing on the right wing and while he is a left shot, McLellan has commented about how skilled Draisaitl is with his backhand against the boards.

Yakupov, Korpikoski, Fayne are contracts I would like to see gone and I won't be too concerned right now with the value we would get in return.

A new roster could look like this

Hall (6) - RNH (6) - Draisaitl (3.4)
Lucic (6) - McDavid (3.775) - Puljujarvi (3.4)
Maroon (1.5) - Pirri (2) - Stempniak (1.5)
Hendricks (1.8) - Letestu (1.8) - Kassian (1.5)
Lander (.98) Pakarianen (.725)

Klefbom (4.1) - Faulk (5.5)
Sekera (5.5) - Demers (5)
Darnell Nurse (1.71) - Davidson (1.2)

Talbot (4.1)
Enroth (2)

The forwards now sit right above 40 million, the defense is 23 million and the goaltending is 6 million. This puts the Oilers at 69 million with a few million left for a deadline move or two. There are a few new names on this list.

Pirri was not offered a new contract by the Ducks and will go to free agency. There were rumblings at the deadline that the Oilers were in on acquiring Pirri from the Panthers. Pirri can play the wing or center and could be a very effective third line option.

If Stempniak signs it will be his 7th team in 4 years. He's had varying success over that time, most notably scoring 41 points in 63 games with the Devils before going over to the Bruins. He is a versatile player that can be dropped almost anywhere into your lineup.

As of right now Faulk is my stand-in for top pairing right shot. The purpose of this blog isn't to make trade proposals but in this case I suppose Eberle and Pouliot went to Carolina. Yay.

Cap it off with Enroth as a suitable backup goalie and I believe this is a well rounded roster. The biggest weakness here is on the right side with Draisaitl and of course Puljujarvi being young players. Stempniak, Chris Stewart, maybe if the money is there a Troy Brouwer would all be candidates for a third line winger who could move up to assist a struggling player.

Cap issues are going to start becoming a bigger issue with this team in the coming years, especially as we approach the end of McDavid's ELC. I look at Chicago as a team that seems to be up against the cap every year, and still manage to win Cups. Chiarelli needs to be mindful of the cap and find ways to bring in value contracts and prepare for future years.

Thanks for reading

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