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Edmonton Oilers Rank Last In Salary Cap Rankings

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Daily Faceoff has ranked the Edmonton Oilers last in salary cap efficiency. This comes as no surprise after the website began its annual salary cap rankings list and after a deep dive into the numbers determined that there isn’t a team in a worse situation financially than the Oilers. It isn’t a shock given the Oilers current salary cap woes. The team finds itself with just 21 players on the roster and only $382,499 in cap space. Though finishing dead last on the list is new, Edmonton ranked second last in last year’s version of the list.

Daily Faceoff’s ranking system looks at no-move clauses, dead cap space, the quality of long-term contracts, bargain contracts, and the good deals versus the bad ones. Unfortunately, based on those criteria, it is easy to see why the Oilers find themselves at the bottom of that list. Edmonton has several problematic contracts on their books, and while they have some bargains like Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The bad deals outweigh the great ones.

Darnell Nurse is a really good defenseman; he eats a ton of minutes for the Oilers and plays a lot of tough situations. However, he does suffer a lot of mental lapses, and at $9.25 million a season, he just doesn’t bring the offensive upside you would like to see in a defenseman making that kind of money. Nurse is also likely to wear down as the miles pile up on his body. Those difficult minutes require that he play with a ton of physicality. It could take its toll on the 28-year-old when he gets on the wrong side of 30.

Some of the other bad contracts on the Oilers are goaltender Jack Campbell at $5MM per season as well as third-line winger Warren Foegele and third-pairing defenceman Brett Kulak at $2.75 million each. The contracts come in addition to the nearly $2MM per year the Oilers are still paying on the James Neal buyout.

On the surface, these contracts don’t look like outrageous overpayments because all the players listed above are still functional NHLers. However, in the flat cap era Campbell, Foegele, and Kulak are all replacement-level NHLers who could have been replaced by other players on contracts of less than $1MM per season. Couple that with the mishandling of Nurse’s previous bridge deals and it all amounts to around $10MM in inefficient salary cap spending that could lead to big problems for the Oilers down the road when they need to offer extensions to McDavid, Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard.

Edmonton Oilers Looking To Add A Forward

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The Edmonton Oilers have been on the hunt for defensive help for the better part of this season. GM Ken Holland was able to put that need to rest yesterday by swinging a trade for Mattias Ekholm. Despite the upgrade, it appears that Holland is not done.

Darren Dreger reported last night on TSN’s Insider Trading that Edmonton is still looking to add a forward and have shown interest in Tyler Bertuzzi as well as Nick Bjugstad.

Bertuzzi would be a tough add for Edmonton as his $4.75MM cap hit could prove problematic given the Oilers cap situation, but Bjugstad’s cap hit is just $900K. Both Bertuzzi and Bjugstad are pending unrestricted free agents playing on teams that appear likely to miss the playoffs.

Bertuzzi has had a down year this season with the Detroit Red Wings. He has just four goals in 29 games after scoring 30 goals last season in 68 games. He has missed considerable time this year and also missed most of the pandemic shortened 2020-21 season. Given his recent history, injury risk could be a concern to any team interested in Bertuzzi’s services. Cost could also be a concern as Detroit is reportedly asking for a first round pick.

Bjugstad on the other hand has dealt with injuries his entire career, but he has remained relatively healthy this season. He has had somewhat of a resurgence with the Arizona Coyotes scoring 13 goals, his first time breaking the 10-goal mark since 2017-18. The former first round pick appeared to be a budding star with the Florida Panthers back in 2014-15 when he scored 24 goals, but since that time he has yet to crack the 20-goal mark.

Any Oilers addition will likely need to be a dollar for dollar move at this point, or require a team or two to retain salary. The Oilers have just $450K of deadline cap space to make a move as they are still dealing with dead cap hits from the buyouts of James Neal and Andrej Sekera, as well as the retained salary from the Milan Lucic trade with the Calgary Flames. Lucic and Sekera come off the books at the end of this season, which should open the door for Holland to add to the Oilers this summer.

Thomas Hickey, James Neal Released From PTOs

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With training camps starting to wrap up and the regular season about to begin, some professional tryouts are coming to an end. Thomas Hickey and James Neal have been released by the New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets respectively, the latter according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.

Neal, 35, did a bit in the preseason of what he has always done – score goals – but it wasn’t enough to earn an NHL contract with the Blue Jackets. The veteran forward embraced a minor league role with the Springfield Thunderbirds last season and seems likely to do the same this year, if he wants to continue his career.

Over parts of 14 seasons in the league, Neal has 296 goals and 559 points in 869 games, reaching the 20-goal mark in each of his first ten years. While that NHL production has vanished recently, he did score 14 goals and 26 points in 28 games for the Thunderbirds and helped them reach the Calder Cup finals (which they ultimately lost).

Hickey, meanwhile, was also playing the minor league game last season, spending most of the year with the Bridgeport Islanders and Ontario Reign. The 33-year-old defenseman has more than 450 games played at the NHL level but quickly fell out of favor after signing a hefty contract with the New York Islanders.

With just seven NHL appearances since the start of the 2019-20 season, it seems unlikely that Hickey will get another full-time role at this point. If he wants to continue, perhaps another team will give him a chance on a two-way deal for minor league depth.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign James Neal To Professional Tryout

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have added some big names to their roster this summer, and now they’re going to be giving another big-name player a chance to earn a spot on their team. Per CapFriendly, unrestricted free agent winger and former 40-goal scorer James Neal has signed a professional tryout (PTO) with the Blue Jackets.

Neal, 34, split time last season between the St. Louis Blues and their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. In 19 games for the Blues, Neal registered two goals and four points. At the AHL level, Neal fared better, scoring 14 goals and 26 points in 28 games to go along with 12 points in 17 games during the Thunderbirds’ run to the Calder Cup Final.

Neal’s game has declined since his prime, and he isn’t the goal-scoring offensive force he once was. But he has had time over the past two seasons to adjust his game in order to fit lower on a team’s lineup, and now he’ll have a chance to impress coach Brad Larsen and earn a spot on the Blue Jackets’ roster.

On paper, this signing seems to be a way for the Blue Jackets to add an experienced, veteran NHLer to compete with the young players Columbus would ideally like to see make their NHL team. As with any professional sports team, the Blue Jackets are a competitive outfit. They’re not going to hand roster spots to any young player, no matter how talented. Adding Neal on a PTO gives up-and-coming wingers such as Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, Liam Foudy, and Yegor Chinakhov a big-name veteran to compete with for a lineup spot.

Additionally, Neal’s presence could also push players such as Mathieu Olivier or Justin Danforth to defend the NHL jobs they’re currently penciled into. While he might not make the team given the competition he’ll face, this PTO gives Neal an opportunity to show the Blue Jackets organization what he can do. If he performs well, he could potentially earn another two-way deal and serve as useful depth for a Blue Jackets club looking to make some noise next season.

James Neal Hopes To Play Next Season

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Because of his performances the last few seasons, it’s easy to forget that at one point, James Neal was among the most consistent offensive players in the league. For ten straight seasons, starting when he entered the league in 2008, Neal recorded at least 21 goals. He has 296 all-time, over a near 900-game NHL career. For a player with so much success at the highest level, a demotion to the minor leagues might mean it was time to call it quits. Not so for Neal, who has rediscovered his passion for the game while helping the Springfield Thunderbirds chase a Calder Cup.

In Elliotte Friedman’s latest column for Sportsnet, Neal explains that it’s not just this year that he is playing out, but hopes to keep going in 2022-23. The veteran winger will be 35 by the time next season begins and is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency when his one-year, $750K contract expires this summer. Whether he’ll be able to land another NHL deal remains to be seen but he might not even need it, given how he has embraced the Thunderbirds, scoring 26 points in 28 regular season games and five more in five postseason matches so far.

It’s uncommon, but not entirely unprecedented for a successful NHL player to end up signing an AHL contract at the end of his career. Matt Moulson, for instance, has been playing on minor league contracts for three seasons, despite his history as a three-time 30-goal scorer in the NHL. While he didn’t have quite the same consistency as Neal, Moulson similarly embraced his transition to the AHL.

That’s not to say there won’t be a market for Neal this summer, especially if he’s willing to stay stashed in the minor leagues. A contender may want to keep him on an NHL contract in case they need a call-up, perhaps one that can play the net front on the powerplay or add some scoring punch in a limited role.

If not, and Neal doesn’t score another goal at the NHL level, it’s still been quite a career. His 296 goals put him just outside the top-200 all-time and his 33 postseason tallies have him quite a bit higher than that.

Springfield, meanwhile, will kick off the AHL’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Laval Rocket tomorrow night.

James Neal Clears Waivers

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Jan 3: Neal has cleared waivers according to Friedman meaning he can now be sent to the taxi squad or minor leagues.

Jan 2: The St. Louis Blues placed forward James Neal on waivers today, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Neal did have an impressive training camp with the Blues which led to a one-year, league-minimum contract, but he hasn’t retained that same magic in the regular season. The embattled former 40-goal scorer has just two goals and two assists through 17 games this season.

With the Blues continuing to get back to full health, there’s no clear spot for Neal at the NHL level anymore. He’s been surpassed on the depth chart by names like Logan Brown and Klim Kostin, making him expendable.

Teams have until 1 p.m. CT tomorrow to put in a claim for Neal.

Four St. Louis Blues Enter COVID Protocol

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Four St. Louis Blues — forwards Dakota Joshua, James Neal, Ivan Barbashev, and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo — have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols, per a team release.

There are now five Blues on the protocol list, joining Oskar Sundqvist on the list.

Barbashev’s been a shocking producer to start the year, going on a tear with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 31 games. He’d been averaging over 17 minutes a game, too, so his absence can’t be taken lightly.

Joshua, Neal, and Bortuzzo had combined for just 11 points this year, but it’s just more depth missing from a Blues roster that’s been rocked by absences all year.

Barbashev entered protocol on December 23, so he’s eligible to return three days earlier than the other three players. However, due to an open schedule, all four could come back into action on January 5 against Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, it seems like all four will be unavailable for the Winter Classic on New Years Day.

Blues Place James Neal On Injured Reserve

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For a brief moment, it looked as if the Blues were finally going to have a fully healthy roster at their disposal but that isn’t the case now.  With a few players banged up, they’ve been forced to make a move as the team announced that winger James Neal has been placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury.  Center Dakota Joshua has been recalled from AHL Springfield to take Neal’s place on the roster.

Neal had a strong showing with St. Louis on a training camp PTO which led to him receiving a one-year, $750K contract just before the regular season started.  His preseason production hasn’t quite carried over to the regular season, however, as the 34-year-old has managed just two goals and two assists in 17 games while averaging just 11:54 per game, a career-low.

As for Joshua, this is already his third recall of the season.  He has played in six games with the Blues this season, logging just shy of eight minutes per game on the fourth line.  He also has suited up in 11 games with the Thunderbirds, notching a goal and four assists.

What’s notable here is that St. Louis doesn’t have the cap space to add Joshua to the roster; per CapFriendly, they have less than $100K in room right now and Joshua, like Neal, makes $750K, the league minimum.  David Perron and Klim Kostin are the other injured forwards and one of them (or Neal) could be shifted to LTIR to create the cap space for Joshua’s addition but that means they’d be missing ten games and 24 days.  Otherwise, the cap space would need to come from removing a defenseman from the roster; only Scott Perunovich is waiver-exempt.  While this move was needed to get a healthy forward up, it looks as if there will need to be another one coming to make the money work.

Blues Sign James Neal

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It was a successful tryout for winger James Neal in St. Louis as the Blues announced that they’ve inked the veteran to a one-year contract.  The deal is worth the league minimum of $750K.

In his prime, the 34-year-old was one of the more consistent scorers in the NHL, scoring more than 20 goals in ten straight seasons.  However, as he has gotten older, his production has started to slow down.  He had a bounce-back year in 2019-20 in Edmonton with 19 goals in 55 games but he wasn’t able to maintain that same level of production last season.  Instead, he had just five goals and five assists in 29 games while clearing waivers and spending time on the taxi squad.  Rather than keep him on their roster for the remaining two years of his contract, the Oilers decided to buy him out, paying him $1.916MM over each of the next four years for him to go elsewhere.

After being unable to secure a guaranteed contract in free agency, Neal accepted a PTO offer from the Blues who have a need for some cheap role players given their salary cap situation as they’re going to be quite close to the cap ceiling when fully healthy.  He made the most of his exhibition action, scoring four goals in five games to lead the team in that department while sitting one off the league-wide lead in the preseason.

While his best days are behind him now, Neal represents a low-risk pickup for St. Louis.  If he’s able to contribute some offense in the bottom six, they’ll be content with that and if he winds up struggling, they can send him to the minors (he’d have to clear waivers first) and clear the entire cap hit off their books.  Neal sits six goals away from 300 for his NHL career and he should have a chance to get to that milestone at some point this season.

St. Louis Blues Sign James Neal, Michael Frolik To PTOs

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The St. Louis Blues have brought in a ton of veteran experience in one day, signing James Neal and Michael Frolik to professional tryouts. Both players will join the Blues for training camp as they look for NHL contracts.

Neal, 34, was once one of the most consistent goal scorers in the league, posting seasons of at least 21 goals for the first ten years of his career. Things changed in 2018-19 when he signed a five-year, $28.75MM contract with the Calgary Flames, as suddenly his goal scoring dried up and he was pushed further and further down the lineup.

After two up and down years with the Edmonton Oilers, Neal’s contract was bought out in July. He will still earn nearly $2MM from the Oilers in each of the next four years, meaning whatever he was to make on another NHL contract would just be a bonus. Though his overall play has obviously declined, Neal did actually score 24 goals in 84 games for the Oilers over those two seasons, 13 of them coming on the powerplay. If there’s any of that juice left, perhaps the Blues could use him as a sort of specialist to replace some of the scoring that left in the offseason, or that which could still be moved out.

Frolik, 33, is a bit of a different story. He was never a pure goal scorer, far from it in fact as he hasn’t recorded a 20-goal season since his sophomore year in 2009-10. Instead, he grew into a defensively capable support player who could be relied on for somewhere around 40 points a year. That offense disappeared over the last few years though and Frolik was limited almost entirely to the taxi squad for the Montreal Canadiens in 2020-21. In eight games, he failed to record a single point.

It’s hard to believe he’ll ever be an impact player again, but you could certainly do worse than Frolik if you’re looking for depth to keep on hand in case of injury. Having a player like him in camp prepares for that situation, given the Blues don’t have a huge number of young players pushing (or ready) for playing time.

As with any tryout agreement, it’s also important to remember that this does not mean the Blues have exclusive rights to these players. Any NHL team can still sign them if they wish, meaning this is a showcase to the whole league.

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