Edmonton Oilers: Looking at expiring contracts – RFA edition

Bonus material

For those of you lamenting the Oilers getting swept by Winnipeg in the 1st round – and it stinks, don’t get me wrong – think about this.  You could be a Leafs’ fan right now.

The Oilers weren’t the only Canadian favorite to get upset by their lower-seeded brethren as Montreal beat the Leafs 4 games to 3.

I looked into this – they’ve never made it past the 1st round once in the Auston Matthews era in TO.  And although I didn’t watch any of the TO-Habs series, from what I hear TO put in a lackluster effort in the last 2 games.  At least the Oilers can point to 2017 in the Connor Mcdavid era, when they beat San Jose in round 1 and defeated in the 2nd round by Anaheim.  The Leafs can’t even say that.  They haven’t won a playoff series since Pat Quinn was the GM.  Over a decade ago.

I don’t know about you, but personally, I’d rather be an Oilers fan than a Leafs fan right now.  I’d rather be Ken Holland than Kyle Dubas right now, as the Oilers will be exiting cap hell now and Holland will have some room to make some great moves.  What that looks like remains to be seen, but we’ll sure find out by the time training camp rolls around.

Dubas, on the other hand, has a team full of chokers who gave up with 2 games left in the series.  At least the Oilers always played their best from games 1-4.

If I was a betting man, I’d say William Nylander is likely as good as gone from TO, they need to dump his cap hit so they’ve got room to sigh some decent depth guys.  Oh, and all of TO’s LTIR cap space is evaporating.  The Tavares contract isn’t going anywhere.  I knew they’d come to regret that one as soon as it was signed, and I’m betting they wish they have a cheaper option at that spot so they can retool the team.

And if you think it’s bad that the Oilers are missing 3 picks in this year’s draft, the Leafs are missing 4 picks – and they traded away their 1st round pick at the deadline.  To rent Nick Foligno.  Let me repeat that for emphasis.

They traded away their 1st round pick.

To rent a depth player for the playoffs.

I don’t know about you, but if I was the GM of a team, I wouldn’t trade away a 1st round pick for a depth player.  Oh, and did I mention he was playing on the 4th line by the end of the playoffs?

Brilliant asset management (sarcasm alert).  If that player was Alex Ovechkin, that would be one thing, but not Nick Foligno.

Personally, I feel much more optimistic about the future of the Oilers.  There’s potential there.  The Leafs, I think we’re looking at their present and future for years to come.  A top-heavy team that chokes in the playoffs.

Oh, but “Connor Mcdavid isn’t going to put up with this much longer” as the TO media slings at us.  Right.  How much longer is Auston Matthews going to put up with the Leafs?