Free agency is less than 48 hours away now, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Oilers.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Evan Bouchard – The Oilers only have one player who qualifies for this section but Bouchard is certainly a significant one. No, the 25-year-old didn’t match his output from 2023-24 although that was going to be hard to do after he put up 82 points in 81 games that year. But even with a drop-off in production, he still finished fifth among all NHL blueliners with 67 points (14 goals, 53 assists) in 82 games. In the playoffs, he had 23 points in 22 contests, down from 32 in 25 the year before but still extremely impressive. While Bouchard isn’t known as being an elite defender, he has made strides at that end and has now shown himself to be one of the premier point producers from the back end. Arbitration-eligible this summer, it’s quite possible that a long-term contract for him approaches the $10MM mark.
Other RFAs: F Jacob Perreault, F Noah Philp, G Olivier Rodrigue, F Cameron Wright
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Connor Brown – After a rocky first year in Edmonton, Brown took a low-cost one-year deal to stay with them last summer and fared much better, putting up 30 points during the regular season plus nine more in 20 playoff outings. As always, he was a capable penalty killer as well. While his days of being viewed as a secondary scorer may be done now, Brown has shown that he can still be an effective bottom-six piece so a multi-year offer at more than double the $1MM AAV he made this season should be doable.
F Kasperi Kapanen – A midseason waiver claim, Kapanen was okay in a limited role but still managed just 14 points in 67 games on the season. He was better in the playoffs with six points in 12 games but found himself out of the lineup somewhat regularly as well. A veteran of more than 500 NHL games now, the 28-year-old should be able to secure a deal at some point this summer but it could wind up being a little later in free agency at a price tag close to the minimum salary.
D John Klingberg – The 32-year-old is one of the bigger wild cards on the open market this summer. He signed a deal midseason after recovering from hip surgery but didn’t play a lot after missing time due to illness and a late-season stint on LTIR. But in the playoffs, Klingberg was in the lineup for all but three games and held his own in more than 19 minutes a night of playing time. He’s not a top offensive threat as he was in his prime with Dallas but he’s capable of still helping out a bit on that end while his playoff performance will undoubtedly bolster his market heading into free agency, especially as a coveted right-shot player. A big-money contract isn’t happening but he might be able to beat the $1.755MM he received when he was a free agent a few months ago.
F Corey Perry – Perry very quietly tallied 19 goals this season and is averaging 15.5 per year over the last four seasons while doing so playing almost exclusively in the bottom six. He then went and added 10 more in 22 playoff contests. Yes, he’s 40 but he has shown an ability to adapt and still contribute which will give him a strong market. If he wants to continue to try to chase another Stanley Cup, he’ll probably have to keep settling for something in the $1MM range plus some bonuses. But if he’s open to expanding his options past that, doubling that amount should be possible.
F Jeff Skinner – After being bought out by Buffalo, Skinner took a one-year, $3MM deal to give Edmonton some more proven secondary scoring while ideally bolstering his market for 2025. That didn’t quite happen. He managed just 16 goals and 13 assists and found himself a scratch at times during the regular season and quite frequently during the playoffs. His track record is still good enough that there will be a market for his services this summer but it might wind up being another one-year deal at a bit of a dip from this season.
Other UFAs: D Ronald Attard, F Drake Caggiula (signed in Switzerland), D Connor Carrick (signed in Switzerland), G Collin Delia, D Travis Dermott, D Philip Kemp, F Lane Pederson, F Derek Ryan
Projected Cap Space
Following a busy week that included Evander Kane being traded to Vancouver and re-signing Trent Frederic to a surprising eight-year contract, the Oilers find themselves with a little over $12MM in cap space. The bulk of that will be needed to get Bouchard under contract while they’ll want to shore up their depth as well. That’s doable enough but if GM Stan Bowman wants to make a bigger splash, he’ll have to find a way to free up some cap space first.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire (Bouchard) and Sam Navarro (Klingberg)-Imagn Images. Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.
Lukas Reichel, Wyatt Kaiser, Drew Commesso, for McDavid… Stan can’t pass this up!
Immediately When he signs No defense Bouchard will be overpaid. If you watch playoffs You saw Why he will not be at Olympics unless lots of injuries. He at best seventh defensemen only plays power plays.
At least you openly admit that you don’t much about hockey. Thanks for the honesty.