Edmonton Oilers: 7 Affordable Free Agents That Would Help The Team
The Edmonton Oilers are getting ready for free agency starting next week. I’ll be looking at which players they should be targeting moving forward.
Edmonton Oilers: With the NHL entry draft behind us, we can now turn our attention to the free agent market. The Oilers have yet to sign Darnell Nurse or Ryan Strome yet, and I’d be willing to bet that those two players will come to a total that is sub $8M. Hopefully, it’ll be closer to $6.5M though.
If you were listening to Oilers Now yesterday you would’ve heard Bob Stauffer throwing out the number $3.5M as the remainder he thought the Oilers would have under the cap after re-signing the aforementioned Nurse and Strome.
If I recall correctly, he also felt the Edmonton Oilers would need to sign four players with that $3.5M and so our exercise today is to find four players that’ll fit within the constraints of that number.
First I’ll start off with the wingers, then the defencemen and then the centers. Let’s get this started.
The Wingers
Jason Chimera (LW/RW) – 39 years old
Last season, the ex-Oiler made $2.25M splitting the season between the Islanders and the Ducks. In total, he scored three goals and ten assists.
I think I’ve talked about him before but he’d be Matt Hendricks but fast. A player that could help out on the PK and be a useful bottom-6 forward who uses his forechecking ability and his size to root out pucks.
It’s possible that the game has passed him by though. His stats declined massively from the previous season where he had 20 goals and 13 assists.
Possible cost: 700k-900k on a one year deal.
Austin Czarnik (RW) – 25 years old
This is a player that has been on Edmonton’s radar for the entire year. He’s not a big player mind you as he stands under 5’10” but he’s very quick and at the AHL level has shown the ability to a very productive player. His salary last year was 675k.
Last season Czarnik scored 69pts in 64 games for the Providence Bruins, and in 10 appearances for Boston, he managed four assists.
What I like about him is that he’s right-handed and he’s ready to be a full-time NHL player. Someone who could float throughout the lineup and offer that jolt of energy to whatever line he’s on.
Possible cost: $1.5M – 2M over two seasons
Daniel Carr (LW) – 26 years old
Montreal is going to regret letting this guy go. The times that I saw Carr playing, I thought he was very effective. Not quite as small as Czarnik, the Sherwood Park native is just under average height at 6’0″ and 185lbs. His salary was a paltry $725k for the last two seasons.
Carr spent time in both the AHL and the NHL last year where he was near a point-per-game player for Laval (20gp-19pts) and near half-a-point-per-game in the NHL (38gp-16pts).
What draws me to Daniel Carr is his work ethic. He knows he’s the kind of player that can’t rest on the skill he has alone and works his butt off to create chances for himself or his linemates and I feel like the Oilers could use more of these kinds of players.
Possible cost: $1.75 – 2.5M over two years
The Centers
Kyle Brodziak (C) – 34 years old
Another ex-Oiler, right? Brodziak is a tough customer who is a right-hand shot. He plays an old-school brand of hockey that most Oilers fans can appreciate. Last campaign he made $950k.
Brodziak averaged around 32 points a year during his 3-year stint in St.Louis. I wouldn’t expect him to carry that on given his age, but I also wouldn’t expect him to fall off of the Earth either even if history tells us the opposite.
The Former Wild and Blue would help out in the sandpaper and veteran leadership department. He’d be handy on faceoffs (last year his FO% was 52.1), and since the Edmonton Oilers are going to make the playoffs (knock on wood), they’ll need post-season warriors like Brodziak.
Possible cost: $1.8M – $2.25M over two years
Brian Gibbons – (C) – 30 years old
Gibbons came out of nowhere last season eh? The way his career was trending before New Jersey called him up said to me that this guy was going to be a career AHLer, but he surprised everyone. Gibbons played 59 games for New Jersey and posted a solid 26pts. He only cost the Devils $650k last year.
Brian Gibbons, to me, would be a very serviceable 4th line option for the Edmonton Oilers on the wing. He’s not good on the dot nor does he have fantastic possession numbers (check both out here), but he spent a considerable amount of time on the PK for New Jersey (8th in the NHL) last season, over 165 minutes, and that being an area that the Edmonton Oilers need to improve upon means Gibbons would be a welcome addition.
Possible cost: $1.75M – $2M over two years
The Defencemen
Ryan Sproul (RD) – 25 years old
Darnell Nurse’s old D partner in the juniors has taken a bit too long in his development for both the Detroit Red Wings and the New York Rangers and finds himself an unrestricted free agent.
Sproul is 6’4″ and 205lbs; he amassed 29pts in 49 games during his spell in the AHL last season as well as 5 points in 15 games for the Rangers when called up. The former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound shoots right and with that shot has scored many goals in both junior and minor pro. His slap shot is dangerous, and he can skate very well.
I haven’t watched a ton of him outside of my YouTube scouting to tell you why he’s going to be on his 3rd team before the age of 26. But if I had to guess it’d have to do with his defensive game not entirely coming together the way NHL coaches would like it to, or it could be that he joined two clubs who were deep on the blueline. I think he’d be a great 7th defenceman.
Possible cost: $1.5M spread over two years.
Brandon Davidson (LD) – 26 years old
Anybody else up for the third round of Brandon Davidson? Taber-born Davidson played for three clubs in 2017/18, the Habs, Oilers, and Islanders; and was not all that impressive at any of the stops. Davidson benefitted from Peter Chiarelli’s generosity to the tune of $1.425M a year for the last two years.
My feeling around Davidson is that he’s a solid defenseman who can fill in when need be. He moves the puck adequately, he’s physical, he can skate well enough, and he’s got that clapper that he never uses too. He’s 6’2″ and 210lbs too, so he’s not a small guy.
Possible cost: $2.75 – $3.5M over three years.
Honorable Mentions and Conclusion
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Duclair, Scottie Upshall, Matthew Peca, Daniel Winnik, and Dylan DeMelo.
Now to complete this exercise we need to pick four of those players above without going over $3.5M this year. I’d take these four:
- Jason Chimera at 800k per year
- Ryan Sproul at 750k per year
- Daniel Carr at 875k per year
- Kyle Brodziak at 950k per year
I like adding the vets (Chimera/Brodziak) because I want my young kids to outplay them for a spot on the roster and I want them around the locker room because I feel that the younger players could glean certain things from them and their experiences as young players starting out in Edmonton many years ago.
I take the right-handed PP defenseman in Sproul as insurance in case Evan Bouchard isn’t ready to go this year and because the Oilers still need a PP threat from the blue line.
And I take Daniel Carr because I like his energy and attitude. I think he’s got something to prove to the Montreal Canadiens for quitting on him and he’ll perform extra dutifully.
THE FINAL ROSTER
Nuge-McDavid-Rattie
Lucic-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Khaira-Strome-Kassian
Carr-Brodziak-Caggiula
Scratch: Aberg, Chimera
Nurse-Larsson
Klefbom-Sekera
Russell-Benning
Scratch: Sproul
So as impossible as it might look right now, the Edmonton Oilers CAN fill out the rest of the roster with $3.5M in cap room. The blanks might only be filled in with foot soldiers instead of knights.
Next: Is Chiarelli the Big Winner of the Draft?
What do you think? Did I forget anything? Let me know in the comments below.