Edmonton Oilers: Reviewing Free Agency + What To Expect Next

After the Oilers bought out Andrej Sekera, most fans were expecting some significant additions to open up the annual Free Agent Frenzy. Instead, they were left holding their breath as they watched the team add goaltender Mike Smith, depth forwards Markus Granlund, Tomas Jurco and  Gaetan Haas, while also re-upping Alex Chiasson and Jujhar Khaira to new deals.

Alright, we’ve had a while now to vent the underwhelming results of July 1st, so let’s break down the deals given out (and the ones that weren’t) by Ken Holland with a clear head and open mind… shall we?

Here’s the thing; the Smith signing would have been (and still has the potential to be) a pretty smart signing by the Oilers barring different results to the rest of the team’s offseason. If Edmonton avoided paying a backup goaltender north of 3 million dollars with 2-3 years of term so they could allocate more of their cap space towards bringing in a top-six forward, then this would have been a great signing by the team.

If all they end up with is more additions of bottom-six forwards, then I believe the money would have been better spent on bringing in a younger more reliable goaltender who would be the verbatim number one heading into next season — someone like Petr Mrazek or Semyon Vermalov.

What is a positive is that Smith is only signed to a one-year, bonus-heavy contract. What happens if Mikko Koskinen puts all his critics to the side and actually has a decent season as the Oilers starter next year? Well, now the team isn’t locked into paying another goalie a good chunk of cash for the next three years and can easily move on from Smith in the offseason with no strings attached.

We also shouldn’t rule out the possibility of Smith having a bounce-back season either. He may be 37-years-old, but he has been a reliable goalie in this league for a long time now. His 0.898 SV % last season with the Flames is a conspicuous outlier of what he has been capable of accomplishing in his career, and there’s no doubt that his puck-moving abilities will help out Edmonton’s breakout in ways that may not find their way onto a stats sheet.

Now to the part where I believe the Oilers missed the ball — the signing/ re-signing of 5 depth forwards. Generally speaking, Ken Holland had three significant needs to be filled this summer: a reliable back-up goalie, a third-line center, and a top-six winger (or two). In his press conference on Monday, he consistently stated how he wanted to improve depth scoring and create competition in the bottom part of the roster.

The only issue here is that I don’t believe the amount of depth wingers was the problem in the Oilers line-up. The problem was that guys were given more prominent roles than they could handle because there are not enough competent top-six forwards on the roster. So adding more depth wingers isn’t going to solve anything; getting a legitimate top-six forward who can bump guys down in the line-up is how this team is going to get more scoring from the bottom-six — end of story.

If Holland wanted to switch out some of his current bottom-six forwards with a guy like Granlund then that’s fine, but to re-sign two current depth players plus sign three more on the open market takes away valuable dollars from their cap space. Space that could have been used to sign one of the several proven top-six wingers on the market or to acquire via trade.

What’s Next?

After the Sekera buyout the Oilers were flirting with around 12 million in cap space, they now only have approximately 3.93 million in cap space and have essentially solved none of their problems. Which is why this free agent frenzy was a failure for Holland and staff. They got a backup goalie (all be it not a very reliable one), they still don’t have a bonafide third-line center, and still have a massive need to add a top-six winger with very little cap space to find one.

Did they do a good job avoiding throwing excessive amounts of money at guys like Brandon Tanev or Joonas Donskoi? Yes, and I believe Granlund is excellent value compared to those two. However, the team missed an opportunity to fill specific lineup holes and have now put themselves in a position where it will be tough to identify those needs before the puck drops this October.

Not all hope is lost, though. Top-end guys like Ryan Dzingel may be out of reach for Edmonton to grab on the open market, but they could afford to grab a serviceable centreman like Brian Boyle. Who would ideally be your 4th line center on a contending team due to his lack of footspeed. However, the reality is that he is a much better option than what the Oilers currently have and would bring some veteran stability on the third-line.

Based on the press conference following Free Agency, it sounds like Holland is not finished yet, and he did identify that the team does need to add a higher end winger, which is promising. He may have lost the faith of many Oilers fans due to his moves on July 1st, but there is still more than enough time for him to work some magic this offseason.

My advice to you? Expect some significant changes to eventually come … just don’t hold your breath.