If you went to bed before you likely woke up to the big news of the Edmonton Oilers re-signing Evander Kane. The Kane and Oilers camp agreed to a deal for 4 years with an AVV of $5.125 million. I think that this is a good deal for both teams involved.
Evander Kane gets fair market value and the Edmonton Oilers get a 30 goal scorer for just over $5 million a season. This means that Kane will be an Oiler till he is 35 years old. The main thing I like about this contract is the term. You don’t want to be locked into a player past the age of 35.
Last season the Edmonton Oilers signed Kane to a deal on January 27th. In just over half a season he was able to get 22 goals, 17 assists and 39 points in the 43 games. If he is able to keep that clip going over a full 82 season that would be a 41 goal season.
Jack Campbell
https://twitter.com/KevinWeekes/status/1547107245640531969?s=20&t=lYQ7iNRnOMMdISq0ZdU8Rg
Just after the signing of Evander Kane came out, Kevin Weekes broke that it looks like the Edmonton Oilers will be signing ex-Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell for around 5 year, $25 million contract.
Yesterday I wrote an article about which goalie the Oilers should sign and he was second on my list. I don’t think he was the best goalie available on the market, but I think he was going to be the best value.
Last season Campbell in 47 starts won 31 games. In those 31 games he averaged 2.64 GAA and a 0.914 SV% with 5 shutouts. If you compare that to the Oilers goaltenders from last season it is better in all 3 aspects.
If this Kevin Weekes report is correct, which it usually is close, this is big news for the Edmonton Oilers. It has been many years since the Oilers have had a solid starting goalie that you knew would be around for multiple years.
Edmonton Oilers team coming together already
The Edmonton Oilers having already re-signing Kane and signing Campbell is already a big increase in the roster from last season. Having a starting goalie and a scoring winger for a whole season should be enough for the Oilers to win the Pacific Division.
This in combo with the Calgary Flames losing Johnny Gaudreau, should make a Pacific Division title possible. There is still lots of time before the start of the season. There is still time for other teams to get better, but I don’t see any team in the Pacific improving enough to beat the Oilers.