Quote:
Originally Posted by dino7c
Few? They arent going to have any depth...it gets worse starting next year. In 2 years the Oilers will be far worse than now.
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Really IMO the biggest opportunity this gives them is to win a cup this season and maybe next season.
Because if Drai was a pending UFA that's hanging over them all season long and would have caused distraction, now they actually have a shot and this actually drives a bit of excitement in that roster.
But if Drai, Bouchard, and McDavid all re-sign then they are going to have a tough time building any depth.
If you look at the Oilers timeline here:
24/25: Best opportunity to win, mortgaged young pieces of McLeod / Holloway / Broberg to go all in this season with Arvidsson / Skinner/ Henrique
25/26: Raises required for Draisaitl, Bouchard.
J.Skinner, Perry, Brown, Ryan also all UFA. Still a chance to win but will be tough due to contract scenario.
26/27: Raise required for McDavid, S.Skinner.
Ekholm, Kane, Arvidsson, Henrique, Hamblin, Kulak also all UFA. Really tough at this point with key pieces and new deals.
So lots of transition and cap management required for this three year stretch, and then beyond that they will be very old.
Hyman will be 36 and 1 year to UFA, RNH will be 35 and have 2 years left, Draisaitl will be 32 and making $14M, Nurse will be 33 (and probably need to buy him out or move picks to move him).
And beyond Savoie, O'Reilly, Akey, and Wanner they don't even have many "good" prospects, let alone great prospects. And They only have the 2nd and 3rd round picks from the Blues in the first 5 rounds of this 2025 draft, so I expect more 2025 and 2026 picks to get moved soon too which will also hurt longer term.