The Edmonton Oilers, like every other team, have good and bad contracts. But teams that expect to win must have players who outperform their contracts. The Oilers definitely had those players on the team last season, and this one will be no different since there are even more good contracts. Here is a look at the five best in no particular order.
Connor Brown
Connor Brown is one of the newest members of the Oilers, and general manager Ken Holland swung an amazing deal to keep the team under the salary cap for this season. While sacrificing the cap next season by having a $3.25 million performance bonus of 10 games played attached, he signed for just $775,000 for one year.
Brown is an old teammate of Connor McDavid’s, so there is a connection there, and it’s part of the reason why he signed the deal he did. Brown should be playing on the top line, or at least the top-six for most of the season, and gives the Oilers a trusted veteran to put up points consistently and play well at both ends of the ice. It will be a nice change from what they have had for a number of years.
He only played four games last season, so that helped in allowing the Oilers to sign Brown to this kind of great deal. But the 29-year-old also put up 47 goals and 117 points in 191 games for the Ottawa Senators when he was in a full-time top-six role. This was an Ottawa team that didn’t have the star power it does now, so expectations are high for what he can do with the elite talent on the Oilers.
Leon Draisaitl
Leon Draisaitl’s contract has been a steal since he signed it. Some people were worried when he only scored 25 goals and 70 points in 2017-18, but he followed that up with three 50-plus goal seasons and four 100-plus point seasons in the past five years (two shortened seasons included). On most lists, he ranks in the top three NHL players and is second in points by a wide margin ahead of third over the past five seasons, trailing only McDavid.
Draisaitl has just two more years on his $8.5 million AAV contract, and the Oilers’ window to win is now before he gets at the very least $3 million more on his next AAV. He is tied for the 43rd-highest cap hit this season, but he’s one of the elites in the game, will score a ton in every situation, and put up plenty of points. This is all before we even discuss his dominance in the playoffs, closely rivaling McDavid; he’s even better half of the time.
Evan Bouchard
The Oilers and Evan Bouchard have finally come to an agreement on a contract at the number that was expected from the start. Regardless of how long it took, it got done, and both sides should be happy that it is. The Oilers caught a glimpse of what their young defender is capable of now that he has officially taken over the role on the top power play, and he now has Mattias Ekholm to complement him perfectly at even strength.
Bouchard might have only put up 40 points last season, but he had poor luck in the first half of the season. That changed once Ekholm arrived, with Bouchard recording 19 points in the final 21 games before posting 17 points (15 on the power play) in 12 playoff games. He signed for a $3.9 million AAV for two years, so it gives the Oilers a clear window to win before the cap rises and he feeds off of the elite power play for a ton of points. He might not be a number one defenceman overall or defensively, but he can score at a very high level, and the Oilers will see that over the next two seasons. They will deal with the big contract later, but it is a great deal right now with the potential.
Stuart Skinner
Stuart Skinner is starting his three-year, $2.6 million AAV contract, and it is already looking like it is a steal from what he was able to do in his rookie season. Nobody expected Jack Campbell to struggle the way he did in his first season with the Oilers, but it was mended by the great play of Skinner, who started 48 games and won 29 of them. He wasn’t as fortunate to get as much goal support as Campbell, or he would have recorded plenty more wins.
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Skinner might have struggled in the playoffs, but the Oilers’ team defensive game wasn’t exactly great in front of him. He was put in a tough situation too early in his career, but he still finished the regular season with a .913 save percentage. He should be the backup, but it is more likely that he will be splitting time with Campbell at the very least for the foreseeable future, so getting paid the 41st-most money among goaltenders this year is great for the Oilers.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins surprised everybody by putting up over 100 points last season, but he still got a lot of criticism from out-of-market fans and analysts alike. For anybody who is around the Oilers or follows them, he might just have one of the best contracts in the league, and there are no complaints. He is incredibly loyal, taking a pay cut to stick with the Oilers long-term, and will play in any situation and anywhere in the lineup that is asked of him. He has played the wing or center and on the top three lines when needed.
Nugent-Hopkins just finished his 12th season and set a career-high in goals (37) and points (104). He scored 26 more goals and 54 more points than the season prior, and although some call him a power-play merchant, the power play, or penalty kill for that matter, isn’t at the same level without him. He might not run the power play that gets him a ton of points, but he plays a part in entering the zone cleanly and working the left side of the ice.
It will be difficult for Nugent-Hopkins, or anyone, to repeat a 104-point season. But if he’s even below a point per game and does little things all over the ice to help out, he’s still playing above his contract. There are 118 forwards paid more than him per season at $5.125 million AAV, but only eight recorded more points last season.
Since this list only included the five best, I would still like to mention a few others that are good and have the potential to be even better on the Oilers. This group includes Zach Hyman ($5.5 million AAV), Evander Kane ($5.125 million AAV), and Ryan McLeod ($2.1 million AAV). Hyman was a point-per-game player last season. Kane can score, play physically and should be able to return to the scoring pace he was on to begin his tenure with the Oilers. McLeod said he took another pay cut, and if he starts producing offensively, he would be correct. The Oilers definitely have pieces on team-friendly deals to help the team win. It’s just a matter of executing. But having more great contracts than bad ones is an ideal situation.