Oilers lose to Florida Panthers again in free agency

PUBLICATION

Liam McCormick
July 27, 2024 (2:10 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

The Edmonton Oilers had a great free agency period coming off a tough Game 7 loss in the Cup Final to the Florida Panthers, but they came second place once again.

Dom Luszczyszyn of the Athletic recently ranked the teams that had the best value contracts in free agency, and the Florida Panthers were ranked as the best, with the Oilers in second place.

«The Stanley Cup runner-ups look like the front-runner for next season. What Edmonton lacks in long-term promise compared to Florida, it makes up for in the short term with a massive annual surplus that leads the league. The Oilers' roster being $32 million better than their current cap hits is $7 million ahead of Florida, the next-best team. That stems from the team's best players being on stronger short-term deals. As good as Barkov, Tkachuk, Reinhart and Forsling are for $34 million, having Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard for just $30.4 million is even better.»

The Florida Panthers re-signed Sam Reinhart to an incredible value contract of $8.625M after scoring 57 goals last year, but otherwise didn't make a big splash in free agency, mostly signing quality depth players to cheap contracts. On the other hand, the Oilers spent much more but also improved their roster more. Victor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner, as well as re-signing Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, and Mattias Janmark are all great moves for the Oilers.

Luszczyszyn highlighted Mattias Janmark-Nylen as the Oilers worst signing of the summer. His three year contract comes in at $1.45M a year, what Luszczyszyn's model values as an overpay by $700K. Janmark may not produce as much offence in the regular season as he'd like, but he had an incredible playoff performance and has been noticeably clutch in Game 7s through his career. Hopefully Janmark can step it up during the regular season a bit more, but the Oilers will happily take him elevating his game for the playoffs.

The Oilers coming second place to the Panthers in free agent contract values shouldn't mean anything on the ice. The Oilers are a better team this year than last year, more motivated, experienced, and ready to win the Stanley Cup. Surely, this group will be back.

Source: Edmonton Journal

Oilers rank second to Panthers in free agency contract value rankings