With free agency set to begin this Wednesday, it is becoming clearer and clearer that pending unrestricted free agents are unlikely to sign with their former teams and will instead test the market. There is the odd exception to that of course, as a player like Gabriel Landeskog is still in heavy talks with the Colorado Avalanche and may very well re-sign there, but for the most part, these pending unrestricted free agents will dawn different jerseys for the 2021-22 season.
One of those players who will without a doubt be on a new team next season is Blake Coleman, who helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win back-to-back Stanley Cups. While he would likely love to stay in Tampa, his agent recently confirmed there is zero chance he will return due to the highly discussed cap crunch they find themselves in.
The 29-year-old Coleman, who is coming off of an impressive 14 goal, 31 point season in just 55 games, is expected to have many teams interested in his services. One of those teams is the Edmonton Oilers, who are in the market for a top-six left-winger.
While Coleman isn’t an elite offensive player by any means, he has scored north of 20 goals twice in his career and likely would have again this season over a full 82-game schedule. On top of that, he is a fantastic skater and can also kill penalties, something that the Oilers will need given the departure of Jujhar Khaira.
Another positive regarding Coleman is that while he will receive a pay raise from his last contract that carried a cap hit of just $1.8 million, he won’t require an extremely lucrative deal. Based on what he has done in recent years, most are expecting his salary to increase to roughly $4 million per year, on a deal that is roughly four seasons. Assuming that is the case, the Oilers would be very wise to try and bring him in on that deal.
If the Oilers were to get something worked out with Coleman, it would give them much more combinations with their lineup, and allow them to have Leon Draisaitl center his own line rather than play on the left side with Connor McDavid. This would then allow Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to either play on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl, or perhaps even center the teams third line, though that option seems less likely.
Given Coleman’s speed, putting him on a line with McDavid to start would seem to make the most sense. It would also be a great bargaining chip they could use in trying to convince him to sign in to Edmonton rather than any other interested parties. All he would have to do is look at his Lightning teammate in Patrick Maroon, who scored 27 goals alongside McDavid one season, and that alone should have him very intrigued.
Of course, whether or not the Oilers have the cap room to pull this off remains to be seen. They already chose to bring in an expensive deal in Duncan Keith, and are reportedly signing Zach Hyman to a seven-year deal with a cap hit of roughly $5 million, and are also discussing bringing back defenceman Tyson Barrie. If there is any sort of possibility of bringing in Coleman however, they need to entertain it.