As stellar of an offseason as the Edmonton Oilers have had, there’s still work to be done.
They have two pending restricted free agents in first round picks from season past in Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, and already have themselves pressed up against the salary cap. According to PuckPedia, the Oilers are $354,167 above the cap.
There are options for the team to become cap-compliant, each with its own sets of pros and cons. They could look at trading one of Cody Ceci or Evander Kane, or could place the latter of the two on the long-term injured reserve with his sports hernia/hip injury.
Looming over it all is the possibility of another team sending an offer sheet to one of Holloway or Broberg, something Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli said earlier this week is something he would examine if he were an NHL GM. His suggestion? A six-year, $4.5-million offer sheet the way of Broberg.
PuckPedia recently launched a roster management suite, PuckGM, allowing people to build a roster for their favourite NHL teams. Today, we’re going to use that tool to take a look at what the Oilers salary cap situation could look like if another team tried to snag Broberg.
In either of the following scenarios, Holloway re-signs with the Oilers to two-year, $1.072-million AAV deal, as projected by Evolving Hockey.
If the Oilers match…
And LTIR or trade Kane…
A Broberg offer sheet would certainly muddy the water for the Oilers. The team could become cap-compliant in this situation by placing Kane on the LTIR. In order to become cap compliant, the Oilers would need to send defenceman Josh Brown to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, and run a short roster, meaning the team would have just one extra body. It’s something the Oilers did at length last year due to their tight cap situation, and in this scenario, the Oilers sign Max Pacioretty to a one-year, $848,600 contract to be their extra forward. It would leave the Oilers with $137,733 in cap space, keeping them from accruing cap space throughout the season.
Kane would need to remain on the LTIR for the entirety of the regular season in this scenario, or examine trade options at the deadline to get cap-compliant in the event he returns in the regular season.
And trade Kane…
The Oilers could also examine an Evander Kane trade to get themselves cap-compliant. In this scenario, the Oilers are trading Kane to the Ducks for a 3rd round pick, with him waiving his no-trade clause. I don’t know what Kane’s value would be in the market, but this is the deal we’re going with in this scenario for the Oilers to get under the cap, and the return in a trade isn’t what’s important here.
This scenario also sees the Oilers sign Pacioretty to the aforementioned deal, and leaves the Oilers with the same amount of cap space, but an ability to accrue cap space throughout the season. That would be big for them as they look to add at the trade deadline.
And trade Kane and Ceci…
We’re going to see what the Oilers look like if they accept a Broberg offer sheet, and trade both Kane and Ceci this summer. Kane again gets moved to Anaheim, while Ceci is off to Montreal for a 3rd round pick. Again, the point of this exercise is about just moving their money off the books.
The Oilers would then have the ability to have multiple extra players on the roster, giving them $2.448-million and change to add more players to their roster. This time around, they they bring back an old friend in Sam Gagner, who the Oilers sign to a one-year, $1,007,000-million deal, as projected by Evolving Hockey, while also having Lavoie in Edmonton as an extra up front. Josh Brown is able to stick around the NHL, too, as an extra defenceman, with Troy Stecher taking Ceci’s spot on the blue line.
The Oilers would be left with $666,833 in cap space, and could accrue more ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline, with a full NHL roster.
If the Oilers don’t match…
In this scenario, the Seattle Kraken’s aggressive offseason continues, signing Philip Broberg to a $4.5-million offer sheet, sending Edmonton a second-round pick in the process, in line with the required compensation.
Before continuing on, the Oilers would still remain in a difficult salary cap situation, sitting $426,167 over the cap after signing Holloway. Kane could land on LTIR, leaving the Oilers with $4.698-million in cap space, allowing them to bring in Gagner, and have two extra forwards and an extra defenceman in Josh Brown. They’d then have $1.9-million in cap space, without the ability to accrue cap space ahead of the deadline.
And what if they just re-sign Broberg?
Great question, and I’m glad you asked.
It’s still not that pretty.
Broberg signs a one-year deal worth $962,100, in line with Evolving Hockey’s projection, along with Holloway’s aforementioned deal, leaving the Oilers $1,388,267-million over the salary cap and Josh Brown in the AHL. Kane on LTIR gets them cap-compliant and then some, but no ability to accrue cap space beyond the $3.736-million in space they would have. Edmonton could then sign Gagner and call up Lavoie.
If Kane’s healthy to start the year, they’d have to send down a bottom-six forward, one of Holloway, Connor Brown, Derek Ryan, Corey Perry or Mattias Janmark, as well as Troy Stecher to fit under the cap.
All of it circles back to the “easiest” scenario being a Kane trade, if the Oilers could find a place he would accept a deal to. Even in the scenario of Edmonton retaining 50 percent, they would still be able to run a roster that has an extra forward and defenceman, as seen below.
What say you, Nation? How would you handle the Oilers cap situation?
