[Groot]

I was typing this up for my colleagues who are Oilers fans and feel this is just the start of something special, figured I'd share it here as well. It's not meant to be a detailed analysis but a simple snapshot of things as they currently stand.

(Unless a team takes one of their junk contracts)
2018-2019 Projected Cap for Oilers

Lucic - 6.0
Eberle - 6.0
Nugent-Hopkins - 6.0
Pouliot - 4.0
Sekera - 5.5
Klefbom - 4.17
Larsson - 4.17
Talbot - 4.17
*McDavid - 12
*Draisaitl - 6.75
*Nurse - 3.0

Total cap hit - 61.76 Million

Needs - 7x forwards, 3x defenseman, back-up goalie

Available cap space (using 79 million as an aggressive projection of cap for the year) to fill needs: 17.24 million or 1.56 million per player.

I challenge even the most die-hard Oilers fan to point to that lineup and show me how this is the start of something special. I see two top line players in McDavid and Draisatl, maybe 1-2 2nd liners, and 3rd-4th line filler in the rest of the signed forwards. A potential top pairing D-Man in Klefbom, and the rest serviceable at best 3rd-7th D-Men. A solid starter that cannot regress at all and needs a back-up. And 17.24 million to fill in the numerous gaps. Not considering most of the players will regress instead of progress.

Puljujarvi can fill one of the roles, how high up remains to be seen. Where and how do they fill the rest?

TL/DR:E = NG