Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
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 33 and making $14M, Nurse will be 32 (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.
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The tough part for them is the Campbell buyout jumps big time after this season for 2 years. Might be the 2 worst years for that to jump other than this season....but they have bonus overages this season to deal with.
I agree this year will be their best chance and they might be a real threat, but I'm just not sure they are better. They went on a run and the stats we off the charts good in the playoff run for their top guys. But once they got to the conference finals, they stop skating circles around teams and the points dried up, PP was around 20% the last 2 rounds, only Mcdavid and Bouchard were over a PPG, and it was the PK that carried them. They more than likely will be gifted a trip to the conference finals again this year unless Vegas steps up. But once they played a real team that can contain the big boys, they weren't that good other than the PK that just won't do that again.
I don't see them being a threat after this year and we will see how well Skinner and Arvidsson play when they don't get PP1 time.