The Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers are two franchises that faced similar challenges this offseason. Both have generational talents entering the final years of their contracts with the Oilers having Connor McDavid and the Wild having Kirill Kaprizov.
While the Oilers are still waiting on securing their future with McDavid, the Minnesota Wild have not only accomplished that but made sure key pieces around him will stay with the team as well. It started earlier in the summer when the Wild were able to reach a new contract with restricted free agent Marco Rossi.
He was a top restricted free agent and often the topic for trade rumors but they signed him to a three-year contract worth $15 million. Rossi is an ascending player who has now had back-to-back seasons with 20+ goals.
The Wild had to wait a little bit longer to sign Kaprizov, and after negotiations became public, they were able to come to an agreement on a new eight-year contract that makes him the highest-paid player in the NHL. However, one of the reasons they probably were able to get this done was some kind of assurance to Kaprizov that they weren't finished, as just days later, they signed goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a five-year deal.
Edmonton Oilers might not have leverage but they can't sit idle while trying to extend Connor McDavid
While Connor McDavid holds all the cards in terms of negotiations and the Oilers almost certainly would be willing to give him a bigger deal than Kaprizov, it is bigger than money for McDavid. He wants to win a Stanley Cup and after back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final, it seems the superstar has questions if Edmonton is the place he can win one.
The contrast between what the Oilers are doing and what the Wild have done couldn't be any different. The Wild didn't make huge moves; instead, they identified key parts of their roster to build their core around.
For the Oilers they haven't made any notable moves that clearly improve the roster this season. They were able to sign Evan Bouchard to an extension, and that certainly helps show a commitment to winning but the glaring weakness from the past two seasons remains.
It is clearly the goalie position that has been the issue, and might be the biggest reason they haven't won a Stanley Cup yet with McDavid, they are essentially going in with the same group in Stuart Skinner and Cal Pickard. The addition of Connor Ingram gives them another option but it feels more like a wild card than a concrete solution.
With the regular season set to kick off in a couple of days, the inability to get at least some kind of extension means this is going to be a cloud hanging over this team's head and with every stretch of bad hockey, which hopefully will be few and far between, this is a topic that is going to come up instead of being able to focus on the ultimate goal, especially for Connor McDavid, which is to win the Stanley Cup.