In a crazy opening to the free agent market, with teams spending $745 million in the first hour, the Oilers wasted no time addressing one of their biggest concerns from last year
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Even after they went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, you knew significant change was coming for the Edmonton Oilers.
With nine unrestricted free agents and a pressing need to upgrade their top six, everyone was expecting a facelift when the market opened on Canada Day.
After some dramatic nipping and tucking on the first day of free agency, the Oilers are taking a brand new look into next season. The Oilers added two top six wingers in Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, resigned five of their own free agents, landed a depth defenceman and waved goodbye to Warren Foegele, Vincent Desharnais and Sam Carrick.
Edmonton has long been searching for affordable wingers to complement Leon Draisaitl on the second line and they addressed the need in a big way.
“And with Jeff Skinner, he’s a guy who had a long career and scored a lot of goals in the league. He’s a very smart player, can play with lots of skill and play with skilled players.
“And they are good five-on-five players. They score goals and produce offence at five-on-five. They’re going to add a really nice element to our top six.”
Arvidsson, 31, is a competitive player who can finish (he had 49 and 59 points in his previous two seasons with the Los Angeles Kings before back surgery cost him most of last year).
Skinner, meanwhile, is a shoot-first player who’s surpassed the 30-goal mark numerous times in his career. He’s a straight-up finisher who scored 33, 35 and 24 goals over the last three seasons in Buffalo. The Sabres just bought out his previous contract, that was paying him $9 million a season, so he can come to Edmonton on the cheap to increase his stock in an offence-rich environment.
With the Oilers current roster of star players, and in the wake of their recent success and the playoff atmosphere in the arena and around the city, Edmonton pretty much sells itself these days.
“It helps going to the finals but there are two things I see,” said Jackson. “We’ve got players like Connor, Leon, Hyman, Nuge. Great players, great teammates. Nurse, Ekholm, Bouchard, We’ve got a great group and that goes around the league, players know that.
Faced with losing as many as six free agent forwards, the Oilers managed to keep four of them. They got Adam Henrique to stay, signing him to a two-year, $6 million contract. They also retained the services of Mattias Janmark on a three-year deal worth $1.45 million a year. Winger Connor Brown and Corey Perry are also staying, each signing one-year extensions worth $1 million and $1.4 million respectively.
“I think it’s critical,” he said. “To go as far as we did and have players scatter, that’s always tough. These guys all believe in their teammates, they’re an extremely close group of guys. It’s a tight-knit group, which, to me, is one of the key elements in having a team that can win, how much you love your teammates. Because you will do anything for them.
Desharnais signed with the rival Vancouver Canucks for $2 million a year after pricing himself out of Edmonton’s budget. And after the Oilers raided one of L.A.’s free agents, the Kings returned the favour about a half-hour later, signing Foegele to a three-year deal worth $3.5 million a year. Carrick signed with the New York Rangers at $1 million a year for three years.
On defence, Edmonton bulked up with six-foot-five, 220-pound Josh Brown (formerly of the Arizona Coyotes). He signed a three-year deal at $1 million a year. Troy Stecher also resigned with Edmonton (two years at $787,000).
All of these signings leave the Oilers about $2.5 million over the cap with restricted free agents Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway still to be extended. Another shoe will definitely be falling as the team clears out space.
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