Edmonton Oilers set to walk 14 players to free agent status next offseason
Photo credit: Edmonton Oilers Raw
The Edmonton Oilers have likely finished their major moves for this offseason, but they'll need to start thinking about 14 other players set to hit free agency next summer.
The biggest organizational priority this season will clearly be re-signing Connor McDavid to a monstrous contract. However, they'll need to budget for a lot more expiring players.
Oilers currently set to walk 14 players to UFA status next offseason
Beginning with the most important, it's heavily expected that Connor McDavid will re-sign with the Edmonton Oilers this offseason.
The Oilers will essentially hand him a blank cheque whenever he's ready to sign, and all indicators point to him believing Edmonton is the place for his family, and to win.
Oilers set to enter season with 7 expiring forwards, 1 pending restricted free agent
Other than Connor McDavid, the Oilers have 6 pending UFA forwards for next offseason: Adam Henrique, Kasperi Kapanen, David Tomasek, Curtis Lazar, Noah Philp, and Max Jones. Vasily Podkolzin is the sole RFA forward.
Of this group, it's very possible that only one or two could return to the Oilers next season. Kapanen, Tomasek, and Lazar are all one year bets, and if any of them overperform expectations, it may be difficult to keep them. The one forward the Oilers seem intent to sign is Vasily Podkolzin.
Reports have surfaced the Oilers have asked Henrique to waive his no-trade clause.. He'll be 36 when the contract expires, and it is very unlikely the Oilers would re-sign him for 4th line duties.
Oilers entering season with 5 pending UFA defenceman
The Oilers are entering this season with a stacked blueline, but they'll need to do some work to keep it beyond this year with 5 expiring defenceman.
Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman, Brett Kulak, Troy Stecher, and Atro Leppanen will all be UFAs at the end of next season.
The Oilers would love to bring back Ekholm as a staple of their blueline the last few years, but they'll may have to prepare him for a lesser role as he reaches his age 36 season.
Insiders have hinted the team is interested in extending Jake Walman this offseason, perhaps preparing for a reduced role with Ekholm.
Brett Kulak and Troy Stecher may be tough to keep with a cap crunch, and Atro Leppanen would likely head back to Europe or to another NHL team if he doesn't immediately fit with Edmonton.
Both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard set to become free agents
The Oilers goaltending is the biggest area of need, and they'll have the prime opportunity to finally make an upgrade next season when both Skinner and Pickard are up for free agency.
Some reports suggest Skinner could be asking for a salary in the range of $6M on his next contract - and with his level of inconsistency the Oilers shouldn't be comfortable paying that. Both contracts expiring could finally force major change in net.
It's kind of a feature of the salary cap era NHL to force major turnover of a team each season, particularly as bottom six players get shuffled out as cap casualties. Next season will be no different for the Oilers, especially after paying McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard hefty raises.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 17 | 380 ANSWERS Edmonton Oilers set to walk 14 players to free agent status next offseason Do you think the Oilers will lose at least 5 players to free agency again next year? | ||
| Yes | 256 | 67.4 % |
| No | 124 | 32.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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