Why are you paying seven figures to 4th line players and healthy scratches? The way I see it is that you can give all those spots to prospects on ELCs or role players on league minimum contracts, and save nearly $3.5M of cap space just on those 4 spots.

Couple that with the cap that's expected to increase significantly this summer and the Oil has nearly $7M in cap space to make some adjustments. That's not a huge amount to work with, but that's certainly not "donezo" or "scraping up against the cap".

They actually are up against it pretty bad for next season. They have four RFA's in Puljujarvvi,Rattie, Khaira and Reider which would eat up about $4.5 per season just on qualifying offers. They have three UFA's in Chiasson and both their goalies. All told they have about $15.5 million in cap space to sign all those pieces and two good goalies are gonna take about $7-8 million at least. They're not likely to bring back Reider or Rattie so that's about $2.75 million to spend elsewhere, they're likely to sign Khaira and Puljujarvvi but I have no clue how much they'll cost, likely not a ton but it's still gonna be more then they're making now. Chiasson is on pace to earn himself a pretty decent raise probably in the $2-3 million range if he stays with the Oilers so thats basically the Reider/Rattie not signing savings. Unless they can move out some of the expensive unproductive pieces like Lucic,Spooner and Russel or a bunch of the smaller dead weight pieces that really add up Iike Manning, Benning and Kassian they're not gonna have much cap space to sign any free agents this summer that will actually make any significant impact. They may not be exactly "scraping up against the cap" but in reality it's pretty close and unless they make a bold trade or two or Yamomoto, Puljujarvvi and Bouchard all take massive steps forward next season I think next seasons Oilers will look a lot like this seasons Oilers.

I know he's not on here but what's the ask for Nurse?
A combo of young cheap players, good long decent contracts, picks are less needed as they need to field a squad.
Just wondering

To be honest I don't know. I'm a leafs fan, and from an outsider perspective, that is exactly the type of player you do not want to trade. I actually think the best move might be to sit and wait. Let years on Lucic, Sekera, Koskinen, Larsson, etc pass. As the years start to tick off their contracts, they become more easily traceable, or you can just let them expire and do not replace them. When this team is good, McDavid will still be the 1C, Klefbom and Nurse are studs on the backend. The rest can shift. Draft and develop without self-sabotaging by trading and signing FA's. Just hold tight for two three years, then make a move. And certainly do not trade Nurse, because with whatever picks and prospects you get, you will try to use them to hopefully to develop another Darnell Nurse,

Ok, so looking at the Oilers current cap situation, they have 17 players locked up to contracts past this season. Let's assume they bury Spooner in the AHL, Sekera goes the way of Chris Pronger (permanent LTIR) and that Manning and Benning end up as the 3rd pair with limited protected minutes. So that's 15 players with a cap hit of $72M (not countin LTIR space for Sekera). That gives them about $11M to sign 5 forwards, 1 defensemen, and a backup goaltender.

Let's start with the forwards:

Rieder sucks, don't qualify him and let him become a UFA.

Puljujärvi, Rattie, and Khaira haven't done anything to warrant significant raises. They might negotiate for longer term in exchange for one-way contracts, but none of them are getting significant raises over their qualifying offers. Certainly none of them deserve seven-figure contracts. Between the three of them, you're looking at about $2.5M. You have Benson and Marody that should both be looking for a spot out of training camp. Let's assume Marody makes it and Benson needs another year in the AHL. You've now added just shy of $3.5M for 4 forward spots. Give Chiasson the higher end of your range and extend him for $3M AAV. That's $6.5M for forwards with one open spot remaining.

The top six defensemen spots are set for next year assuming everyone is healthy. At least one of Bear or Jones should be ready to go by next season, so that's another $925k and rounds out the defense.

Koskinen just signed an extension today for $4.5M, meaning he's expected to take the brunt of the starts next season. You certainly don't need to pay your backup more than $1M. Trade for someone like Campbell who currently leads the league in SV% and GAA and is locked up for another season at $650K. He'll cost a B prospect or a 2nd/3rd round pick.

So now you're at a cap hit of just shy of $79M with all spots filled except for one forward slot (probably LW). That give you $4M to sign or trade for someone to take a middle-six winger spot. If you add in LTIR relief for Sekera, then you have $9M to work with. I wouldn't say they're in an ideal cap position, but they're not in "cap hell" either.

Good lord they signed Koskinen to that? Really?
I get what you're saying but that's still putting hope in Sekera going on LTIR, if he doesn't that leaves $4 million and that's not enough to add anyone that'll help. Hell it wouldn't be enough to bring Eberle back.. ?.. I get what you're saying but it's still pretty tight and a lot of it comes down to hope which I think the Oilers fan base is out of. Also can the Oilers really afford to go with a cheap/no name backup next season? Regardless, it's gonna be interesting to see what they do with this roster going forward.

Kings go with a cheap backup every year and it always works out well for them. Even this year when everything is going wrong for them, the lone bright spot has been goaltending. Quick, Petersen, and Campbell have all been exceptionally good. Regardless, if the difference between a $1M and a 2.5M backup goaltender is going to make or break the season for the Oilers, then they have bigger problems to worry about. Might as well spend that money on improving the defense so the goaltender doesn't have to be as good.

Don't disagree but Chia has only a few grains of sand in his hourglass and has to produce I would think?
Just wondering what his real value is?
What about you guys, gotta get a rightie, huh?

True but the Kings had former Oiler Bill Ranford work with Campbell to help him find his game, he was a former 1st round pick. Do you think Edmonton will be that proactive? lol
I agree about improving the defense if possible though.

Dusty Imoo is actually the coach credited with reviving Campbell's career. He's the goaltending coach in Ontario. Ranford didn't get his hands on him until this season.

Petersen has been widely identified as the goaltender of the future for LA and he's not going to be waiver exempt any longer after this season, so Campbell is likely on his way out. He's locked up for one more year on a league-minimum contract. Edmonton should make an offer for Campbell. He wouldn't cost very much to acquire, and he could fill the backup role on a cheap contract for a season. He'd likely walk the following year because he'd be looking for a starting job somewhere.

Better yet, Edmonton could offer a package deal for Toffoli and Campbell. That would fill the top-six winger hole and the backup goaltender role for just over $5M. If Chia offered the Oilers 1st round pick, they could probably even get Blake to take back Spooner's contract.

That's not a bad idea, Toffoli could probably use a change of scenery too.

So in essence you will be able to ice the same useless ass team next year for just under the cap ceiling- that is the definition of CAP HELL

I think you missed the part where there's $9M of cap space to work with to make trades or sign better players.

See I know you think guys like Puljiarvi won't get 7 figures. I think they would, whether they are worth it or not. Feel free to put Sekera on LTIR. You wind up with say 6 mil to play with to get a middle 6 winger. That isn't going to magically make you a contender. Your biggest contracts (except Connor) are your worst, have long term remaining, and most have NTC. Good luck

Yeah we definitely need a righty! Nurse would actually be a fantastic target. Young, term, cheap (because of RFA status), he makes a ton of sense. This is a player I could imagine a Kapanen deal for. Becomes an RFA after the leafs get cap room (Marleau deal come off the books). The more I type, the more I like this. I could imagine Nurse for Kapanen 1 for 1, is that a deal EDM could be interested in? If it came to it, I'd be willing to give a pick or two (not a 1st) or B prospect (not Sandin or Liljegren), but Idt it would be necessary.

And you guys need a winger as much as we ned a right shot defensemen! Match made in heaven

Nurse is a leftie! Is the reason you guys are trying to get Zaits moved is the contract length and term or is it just to free up cap for next years pay days? If he is moved will it be with a sweetener to take it? Seems like he was in good shape year 1 and then he got D partners that mess up his game? Don't know seems to be what I've read. Just wondering


First, to clarify, I'm a Devs fan, and yes I would really like Kap on my team. I was asking about Nurse for us because of all of the things you mentioned about him but for the Devs!

What exactly has Puljujarvi done to earn a seven-figure contract? You don't pay for potential in this league. He's on pace for 7g and 16p this season. He'll get a $875k contract and like it.

I just did a mock where I trade the devils Zaitsev and surrender a 2nd rounder as sweetener. In the same one I trade Kapanen for Nurse. He's been asked to play a more defensive game, when his strong suit is more quarterbacking a PP and playing more offence. He hasn't been aggressive enough, probably cuz he's playing with Gardiner. Check it out, its called "The Most interesting trade for a D I have seen yet" or something to that effect. Didn't realize u were a Devils fan (your prof pic should've been a dead giveaway. Didn't realize a Nurse was a lefty, but still can play top pair with Rielly.

No way. Oilers have trampled his development and every other team can see it. You do pay potential in this league, especially in this situation. Also 500k doesn't really change the equation. oilers still stuck with a bad team and little cap room to fix it