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Oilers Notes: McLeod, Centers, Bouchard

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Kurt Leavins of The Edmonton Journal writes that he has been hearing that the Edmonton Oilers and restricted free-agent center Ryan McLeod were closing in on a new contract, but that the goalposts might have moved. What exactly that means is unclear and Leavins doesn’t speculate in the article, however, according to Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun, the Oilers have been trying to sign McLeod to a contract with a cap hit of around $2MM and with the arbitration ruling for Philipp Kurashev, they might be looking at a higher number. Kurashev received $2.25MM in his arbitration ruling and given McLeod’s track record he has a good case for a number north of that.

Couple that piece of information with the news that Leavins believes that the Oilers could be looking to bring in some centers on PTOs before training camp and it is a development that isn’t overly encouraging for Oilers fans. However, it doesn’t change the fact that McLeod and the Oilers are set to go to arbitration on August 4th and there are no guarantees of a higher salary for McLeod. He will be pencilled into the lineup once that ruling comes down, meaning there isn’t a threat of him not being signed.

McLeod hasn’t exactly set the world on fire in his first three seasons in the league, but this past season was his best thus far as he posted 11 goals and 12 assists in 57 games while posting a Corsi For % of 53.8%, meaning that the Oilers were controlling the puck more than half the time McLeod was on the ice. The 23-year-old has improved in every season since he started in the NHL and could be just scratching the surface of what he can be.

In other Oilers notes:

  • As mentioned above Leavins believes the Oilers are looking at improving their center depth, and while bringing in centers on a PTO is an option, Leavins also thinks that Edmonton will look at a possible in-season trade as another solution. The Oilers won’t have a ton of cap space (if any) after they sign their remaining restricted free agents, which is likely why Leavins mentions Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens and Nic Dowd of the Washington Capitals as possible targets. Dowd has two years left on his current deal at $1.3MM while Evans also has two years remaining and is owed $1.7MM in each of the next two years.
  • Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun writes that he believes the Oilers have dodged a bullet and he doesn’t expect an offer sheet to come this late in the off-season for restricted free-agent defenseman Evan Bouchard. That’s good news for Oilers fans, but it also isn’t all that surprising given the rarity in which offer sheets are utilized. Leavins wrote today that he believes the Oilers and Bouchard are close to a deal but doesn’t give any details. Given the Oilers tight cap situation it does seem highly likely that they will sign a bridge deal with their budding defenseman which could open the door for him to sign a very lucrative extension soon should he continue to quarterback the league’s best power play. Bouchard had eight goals and 32 assists this past season in 82 games, but just 13 of his 40 regular season points came with the man advantage. In the playoffs, it was a different story as Bouchard had four goals and 11 assists on the power play in just 12 playoff games.

Oilers Aiming For Increased Roster Stability

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The Edmonton Oilers have been one of the NHL’s more interesting teams to watch over the past decade, finally overcoming years of what could best be described as dysfunctionality to once again become yearly postseason contenders on the backs of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. That’s not to say it hasn’t been a rough-and-tumble road for the team since making their first playoff appearance with this core in 2017 – there’s still the sense this core hasn’t lived up to expectations without a Stanley Cup Final appearance to show for their rather electrifying success at times. Today, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal argued that, for whatever reason you choose to believe, the Oilers’ rather stagnant offseason is a sign of better things to come.

It didn’t really matter this summer if the Oilers and general manager Ken Holland wanted to make a big splash – they simply couldn’t make anything work with an airtight salary cap situation and RFAs Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod to re-sign. Staples illustrates this example with past Oilers teams of the 1980s glory days, but championship-caliber teams are rarely built through major free agency additions. Keeping a similar core intact and nurturing it, giving it time to grow while continuing to develop chemistry, has led to positive results in the past.

Kurashev Award Likely Pushes Price For McLeod Higher

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The Oilers don’t have a lot of financial flexibility right now.  Per CapFriendly, they have around $5.6MM in room at the moment but with defenseman Evan Bouchard and center Ryan McLeod both needing new deals, that might not be enough.  To that end, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggested (audio link) that Edmonton might have been the biggest losers from the Philipp Kurashev arbitration award, one that saw the Chicago forward get $2.25MM per season.  Seravalli believes that the Oilers were likely hoping to get McLeod’s deal done for a little less than $2MM but that might be hard to do now.  McLeod (11 goals, 12 assists in 57 games) is coming off a better platform year than Kurashev (nine goals, 16 assists in 70 contests) so if his case gets to a hearing, it’s safe to say they’ll be using the Kurashev contract as a comparable.

Nate DiCasmirro Named AHL Assistant Coach

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  • The Edmonton Oilers have added to their minor-league coaching staff, naming Nate DiCasmirro an assistant coach for the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors today, per a team release. DiCasmirro fills out Bakersfield’s coaching staff, replacing former NHL forward Josh Green, who served just one year with the Condors. The 44-year-old coach spent the last two seasons on the bench of the AHL’s Iowa Wild but did not have his contract renewed by parent club Minnesota this summer. The Iowa job was DiCasmirro’s first in the AHL after retiring from pro hockey in 2019. Over a 17-year pro career, DiCasmirro also played 401 games in the AHL between 2002 and 2008.

Oilers Showed Interest In Tomas Nosek, Offered Lavoie A Deal With A Higher AHL Salary Before He Accepted QO

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The Oilers were among the teams that had shown interest in center Tomas Nosek, reports Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal.  Edmonton wasn’t able to afford to keep Nick Bjugstad who went back to Arizona in free agency and Nosek would have been a capable replacement, particularly in terms of his faceoff skill and penalty killing acumen.  It’s believed that they offered a deal that was at least close in money to the $1MM that Nosek received from New Jersey earlier this week.  The fact that they were in on the 30-year-old suggests that GM Ken Holland is still keeping an eye on the bottom end of the UFA market to potentially round out his roster.

  • Also from Leavins’ column, he noted that the Oilers made a sizable two-way offer to winger Raphael Lavoie, one that would have lowered his NHL salary but given him a bigger guaranteed salary. Instead, the 22-year-old opted to accept his qualifying offer worth just over $874K earlier this month, giving him a bigger potential payday in the NHL.  Lavoie has yet to play at the top level in his three professional seasons but clearly feels he’ll have a shot at a spot at the end of the roster, particularly since he is now waiver-eligible.

Potential Oilers Late-Summer UFA Targets

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  • Another cap-strapped team looking to add depth is the Edmonton Oilers, and The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell thinks Tomas Tatar or Paul Stastny could be potential fits at the bottom of their forward lineup. Adding to the roster will be incredibly tough for the Oilers, though, who will likely dry up their remaining $6MM in cap space on new deals for forward Ryan McLeod and defenseman Evan Bouchard and will only be able to carry one (or potentially zero) healthy scratch(es) when the season starts. Stastny, 37, would be the likelier option out of the two to take a sub-$1MM deal after taking a $1.5MM contract with the Carolina Hurricanes last season and recording 22 points in 73 games.

Raphael Lavoie Accepts Qualifying Offer

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Today is the deadline for players to accept their qualifying offers.  One player that has elected to take his is Oilers prospect Raphael Lavoie as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the winger has accepted his offer which carries a salary of $874,125 in the NHL and $70K in the minors.

The 22-year-old was a second-round pick by Edmonton back in 2019 (38th overall) and spent his entire entry-level deal at the AHL level with Bakersfield.  He got off to a slow start but finished strong with 21 points in his final 24 games, giving him 25 goals and 20 assists on the year in 61 games.

A big winger standing 6’4, Lavoie figures to be a candidate to earn a spot on Edmonton’s roster next season.  However, this contract might actually hurt those chances.  With cap space at an absolute premium, the Oilers will likely want their depth pieces making the minimum of $775K; had Lavoie accepted that as an NHL salary in exchange for a higher AHL one, he could have guaranteed himself more money and given himself a better chance to make their roster.

However, Lavoie appears to be betting on himself here, believing that he can outright earn a spot in Edmonton’s lineup which would bank him nearly an extra $100K in the process.  He’ll once again be a restricted free agent next summer where the NHL portion of his qualifying offer will be just under $918K.

Oilers Interested In Konecny, Laughton

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Most of the top free agents have already been grabbed off the market so far this offseason, yet there are a couple of big names that remain. One of them, Jonathan Toews, had one of the more murkier futures than most. After the Chicago Blackhawks announced they would not be re-signing their captain, much of the speculation pointed Toews to two options: the Edmonton Oilers or retirement.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet was asked to answer a question about Toews in his regular Oilers mailbag, and he painted a much clearer image of what Toews’ future will hold. Apparently, when Toews’ agency gave out their annual list of pending free agents to interested parties, “we are told his name was not even on the list”.

[SOURCE LINK]

  • One of the main focal points of the Oilers’ offseason is to sign restricted free agent defenseman Evan Bouchard to a contract extension, but it appears the Oilers are also looking to add to their forward depth. Michael DeRosa of The Hockey News reports that Edmonton has significant interest in Philadelphia Flyers’ forwards Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton. Both players would be a positive addition to the team’s forward core, but with only $5.6MM available in cap space, it is hard to envision the Oilers being able to absorb the $5.5MM owed to Konecny, or the $3MM owed to Laughton.

Bridge Deal For Bouchard Could Cost Between $3.5MM And $4MM

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The Oilers are expected to have to sign Evan Bouchard to a short-term bridge contract to fit him within their cap structure.  On the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that the deal might fall within the $3.5MM to $4MM range.  For comparison, Colorado’s Bowen Byram inked a two-year bridge deal with a $3.85MM AAV and Bouchard has more than twice as many games played as points as Byram.  The 23-year-old is coming off his second straight regular season of at least 40 points and led all NHL blueliners in playoff scoring with 17 points in just 12 contests.

Oilers Re-Sign Olivier Rodrigue

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The Oilers have taken care of one of their remaining restricted free agents, announcing the re-signing of goaltender Oliver Rodrigue to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay the NHL minimum salary of $775K at the top level; the team did not disclose the two-way element.

The 22-year-old was a second-round pick by Edmonton back in 2018 (62nd overall) and he just wrapped up his entry-level contract.  Last season, Rodrigue played in 29 games with AHL Bakersfield, posting a 2.77 GAA along with a .912 SV%.  He has played in 53 career AHL contests, putting up a 2.89 GAA with a .903 SV%.  He has yet to see any action at the NHL level but served on their taxi squad in both 2020-21 and 2021-22 while being part of their group of playoff reserves this past season.

Rodrigue is likely to split playing time with veteran Calvin Pickard with the Condors next season with prospect Ryan Fanti also waiting in the wings after spending most of his first professional season at the ECHL level with Fort Wayne.  Should an injury arise in Edmonton to either Jack Campbell or Stuart Skinner, it’s likely Pickard would get the short-term promotion to serve as the backup so Rodrigue might have to bide his time a little longer for his first NHL opportunity.

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