Two Players the Edmonton Oilers Could Use But Don’t Have Cap Space For

The Edmonton Oilers have been a team on the rise in recent years, but with limited cap space, there are a few players they could use but simply can’t afford to add to their roster. Here are two fantasy players they could have in a dream world.

Fantasy acquisition #1 – Mark Scheifele

Scheifele is a rare NHL talent – an elite talent you can only get through the draft. Drafted seventh overall by the Jets the year the Thrashers moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg to become the Jets – in 2011. He had a seven-game audition after his second junior year when he was sent back to the farm team in St. John’s….for a whopping 10 AHL playoff games (I guess the years played limit in the CHL doesn’t apply to AHL playoff games). Those 10 AHL games were the last games he ever played in the minors, going back to junior for one more season and another four games with the Jets before making the NHL for good in 2013-14. He broke open in year three of being a full-time NHL player to go 29-32-61 in 71 games. Ever since then, he’s had seven seasons of 20+ goals, two seasons of 30+ goals, and one season – this past one, in fact – of 40+ goals, going 42-26-68 in 81 games, albeit with a terrible -16 to boot. Scheifele is capable of playing better defensively, we know this from previous seasons.

Anyway, in recent seasons Winnipeg has become the Central Division’s version of the Flames – a team that should be doing better but perpetually underachieves. The Jets 2.0 made the Western Conference finals in 2018 and ever since then have either bowed out in the first round or not made the playoffs at all.

This brings us to why Scheifele is actually available – he’s tired of the Jets underachieving and wants a change of scenery to a place where he has a chance at winning a cup. He hasn’t officially asked the Jets for a trade (yet) but is showing malcontent behaviour in a Jets uniform these days. Stuff like this certainly doesn’t help the situation either.

Scheifele is a natural center but shoots right and as such from a hockey perspective would probably make a fantastic addition for the Edmonton Oilers at RW on either their first or second line – there’s no room for him at center seeing as how Mcdavid and Draisaitl are pretty much firmly entrenched in the 1-2 center positions here in Edmonton for the foreseeable future with Nuge as a great alternate if Woodcroft wants to change things up.

But Could He End Up On The Edmonton Oilers?  No

Scheifele would no doubt make the Edmonton Oilers top-six forward group the best in the league in my books, but it won’t happen because the Oilers simply don’t have the cap space unless Holland either trades for an LTIR contract, like Shea Weber’s from Arizona (which IMO he would’ve done already if he was going to do that) or makes major surgery to the roster.

Even if he somehow does manage to pull off a trade for Scheifele, whose cap hit is $6.125 million by the way, Holland has to consider this move with an eye to the future, as Scheifele’s contract is up after next season and any new contract for him will likely start with an eight – at minimum.

But considering the balls in the air Holland will have to juggle for the next few seasons. For starters, the bulk of the remaining cap space the Edmonton Oilers have for this season – $5.609 million – will be used on the Ryan Mcleod and Evan Bouchard contracts. From what we’re hearing of the former’s negotiations on the grapevine, things are not going well.

Furthermore, Leon Draisaitl and Connor Mcdavid – our franchise players – have contracts that will be expiring in two seasons (for the Deutschland Dangler) and three seasons (for the original superstar Connor [no disrespect to Connor Bedard intended]). Who knows what the cap will look like when Mcdavid’s contract is up, but per NHL rules no one player can make more than 20% of the season’s cap. Mcdavid can basically ask for anything short of that, so negotiations will not last long between his agent and Holland, because Holland basically has no choice but to offer Mcdavid something close to a maximum contract. Draisaitl’s next deal will probably start with a $10 million minimum, and could even be something close to Mcdavid seeing as how both players are similar in stats and Draisaitl’s agent may ask for something close in dollar value to Mcdavid – and rightly so. That’s not even getting into the likely scenario that the Oilers will have to pay the piper on Connor Brown’s bonuses that are likely due two seasons from now. Evander Kane will also need a new deal at the same time Mcdavid does – assuming the Oilers will even want to re-sign a 33-year-old Kane, who will be close to the age when players – especially physical ones like Kane – start to decline. Cody Ceci and Mattias Ekholm will also need new deals by then as well.

Acquiring Scheifele would severely complicate Holland’s ability to keep the team together.

Fantasy Acquisition #2 – William Nylander

Thanks to the touchy feelies that now-ex-GM Kyle Dubas felt when John Tavares wanted to sign with the Leafs, and the resulting huge contract that he was signed to ($11 million per), the Leafs are now the NHL team that is truly up poop creek without a paddle. New GM Brad Treliving is now left with a huge cap mess to clean up.

The contracts of the big four – a term I use to not only describe the four players in a hockey sense but also in dollar values – are all coming due within the next two seasons.

At the time of this writing, the Leafs are now the team with the worst cap hell of any other NHL team. They are slated to spend $95 million on player salaries next season, which is tops in the league. Now granted, the careers of Jake Muzzin and Matt Murray are now over, which means both player’s contracts – which are up after next season – give them $10.3 million in LTIR cap space, but that still leaves them just over $2 million over the cap. Only Tampa Bay is close to that kind of trouble – and they’ve already been unable to re-sign Alex Killorn so they’ve made roster sacrifices already – not to mention they have Brent Seabrook’s LTIR contract insulating them against most of their cap overage, and I’m pretty sure barring anymore roster moves they’ll just take the $73,333 cap space hit two seasons from now.

But the Leafs are not so fortunate cap-wise. They’re now at the point where – because of the death knell the Tavares contract spelled for them when they signed him – the piper now has to be paid. One way or another, they have to find cap space to make up the overage for this upcoming season – either by acquiring more LTIR cap space or by jettisoning a roster player.

This means that for the Leafs to have any cap sustainability they’re going to make major surgery to their roster. Being able to replace Matt Murray with internal option Joseph Woll certainly helps, but more is needed.

To remain sustainable the Leafs are going to have to jettison one of their big four – and the contracts of Matthews, Tavares, and Marner are all too big for a team to take on. That leaves only William Nylander to get rid of.

But Could He End Up On The Edmonton Oilers?  No

Like the Jets and Scheifele, Nylander is still making a pretty penny right now, almost $7 million a season to be exact. It’s worth noting this is not an overpayment for the player, though, as outside of an off-season he had back in 2018-19, he has been a 20+ goal scorer five of the last seasons, a 30+ goal scorer twice during the same period, and like Scheifele set a new career high with 40-47-87 in a full 82 games last season, not to mention the additional offence for the Leafs in the playoffs and the fact he finished with a sparkling +10 on the season.

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Nylander would fit fantastically at RW for the Edmonton Oilers from a hockey perspective but again we’re facing the same cap complications as we would be with Scheifele, except even more so. Nylander will likely command $9 million a year on his next contract – minimum – and there’s no way the Oilers could fit that into the roster without major changes, not to mention again (I really can never emphasize this enough) it would severely complicate the next contracts for Mcdavid and Draisaitl, amongst some of the others. The last thing the Oilers need is a complication on the cap right now. The Oilers don’t need to give up the futures required to trade for Nylander nor do they have the cap space needed to sign his next contract.

Although it would be comical to see another Leaf suit up for the Oilers after Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Zach Hyman, and Jack Campbell already have over the last few seasons, this is one that I think the Oilers just won’t be able to pull off, despite the fact it would be really nice and make the top six potent.