EDMONTON — Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland was standing inside the draft floor rail, talking to the media after the Oilers had traded Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin. Next stop is July 1, where Holland has nearly $8 million in cap space after signing Mattias Janmark to a one-year, $1 million deal on Friday.
“So, Ken, now that you have some cap space…” the questioner began.
“Define cap space,” interrupted Holland, who still has to strike deals with Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod, while finding three or four other players of a pedigree that can help a Stanley Cup contender get over the top.
With free agency set to open up on Saturday, Holland has exactly $7,932,499 in cap space with 17 players signed.
Can he land a player in free agency who will push to be a Top 6 forward, or maybe a Top 4 defenceman?
“If we can,” Holland waivered. “It’s all cap related, right?
“If we go to July 1 and teams are spending, we’re sitting on the sidelines. If the market is tight, you get to July 2 and money comes down, then we’ll look.”
Here’s the biggest difference in today’s Oilers compared to previous versions: With the expiration of Oscar Klefbom’s contract, the Oilers are no longer a Long Term Injured Reserve team.
You will recall that teams in LTIR are forced to get as close to the cap as possible on Day 1 of the season, but are then severely hampered at the March trade deadline.
For the first time since the 2020-21 season, Holland can operate more freely outside the shackles of LTIR. And, hopefully, he can store away $1 million in cap space that would afford him a $4.5 million contract add at the deadline.
“I’d like to. If I can,” Holland told me last week.
So, what does Edmonton need to get done with their roster, and how much of that will happen in free agency?
We predict that Holland will take care of his needs at forward over this coming weekend, and leave his need for another Top 4 defenceman until the March trade deadline. It says here, Philip Broberg will get a chance to prove himself as a regular NHL defenceman through the first 50 games this season, as will Raphael Lavoie on right wing.
Their progress will shape Holland’s trade deadline, where the Oilers GM can find a rental Top 4 defenceman if need be, grab a depth guy if Broberg has solidified his position in Edmonton’s Top 6, and figure out if Lavoie is ready for prime time as a Top 6 right winger.
Let’s take a look at what Edmonton has, and what it still requires in its quest to be the first Canadian team to hold a Stanley Cup parade since Montreal in 1993.
FORWARDS
LW C RW
Kane McDavid Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins Draisaitl Lavoie
Holloway McLeod Foegele
Janmark ---- Ryan
The two needs here are a second-line right winger, who may well turn out to be Connor Brown, and a fourth-line centre who could push Derek Ryan to his most effective position on the right side.
Holland would be happy to bring back Nick Bjugstad and plant him in the fourth-line centre spot, but Bjugstad would have to take about $1.3 million on a one-year deal. He can get more money and term elsewhere, but can the 30-year-old find that on a team with a better chance of winning a Stanley Cup than Edmonton?
Remember, in his 11th NHL season Bjugstad made it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time last spring with the Oilers. So he’ll have to decide what he’s after: money or a ring?
Lavoie is interesting, as he becomes waiver eligible for the first time in his career. He popped just in time last season, with 25-20-45 in 61 games at Bakersfield, though Lavoie has not played a single NHL game at age 22.
It’s a stretch to think that player is going to help a team that is at Edmonton’s stage of things, sure. But he’s six-foot-four and 196 pounds, and he could be afforded a spot next to Leon Draisaitl, a veteran whose silky passes could provide the confidence needed for a young player to stick in his first real shot at an NHL roster.
Like Broberg, we feel the Oilers will give Lavoie every chance to part of this roster. If, by the New Year, it is clear he can’t provide the requisite help needed from his position, Holland will fill that role at the trading deadline.
Does Devin Shore return as a 13 or 14th forward? I’d have him back, but we never get the sense that head coach Jay Woodcroft covets this player.
DEFENCE
Left Right
Ekholm Bouchard
Nurse Broberg (left shot)
Kulak Ceci
Desharnais
This defence needs one more legit NHL veteran to make a Stanley Cup run. That player will arrive at the trade deadline, we firmly believe.
In the meantime, let’s figure a few things out:
Can Holland find the next Kris Russell/Ryan Murray in free agency as a No. 8, but get the version that stays healthy enough to help once the playoffs begin?
Can Cody Ceci play like the Cody Ceci from two years ago, and not the one whose game took a step back in 2022-23?
Can Broberg, given a regular shift for a few months next to Nurse (or perhaps Kulak), become a 20-minute NHL defenceman? Can he take the step this year that Bouchard took last year?
Does big Vincent Desharnais develop, at age 27? He’s a No. 6 defenceman —just barely, in our opinion — but he has also played only 36 NHL games. Does he become the No. 6 or 7 for a playoff run, and when Holland brings in a veteran at the deadline the Oilers can say they have the eight or nine blueliners that are required for a lengthy playoff run?
GOALIES
Stuart Skinner
Jack Campbell
This is your tandem, folks.
If it totally implodes, Holland will have to act at the deadline. But he does not want to.
Spending more capital or cap space on goalies is not a part of the plan at this time.
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