Edmonton Oilers Offseason Talk: Will Holloway, Broberg, and Kulak be Oilers after the 2023 NHL Draft?

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Edmonton Sun

Let’s play Manage the Salary Cap with Oilers GM Ken Holland

“Holland’s signing to do list:”
- “Bouchard, who has solidified his top-4 defence role with Ekholm and played a staggering 31 minutes in Game 6 against Vegas… Holland, who might rather get him signed for seven or eight years at $6 million, locking him in, but Bouchard might want to bet on himself and sign for a shorter time for shorter money with a full season alongside Ekholm and PP duties to ramp up his points.”
- McLeod had no choice but to sign a lowball $798,000 one-year deal last summer because he had no leverage and the team had no money… The new deal for the centre has to start with $1.5 million, you would think.”
- “Kostin, who had 14 goals and only played 9:30 on average, also has arbitration rights as an RFA and will need a bump from his $750,000.”
- “Does Holland have enough money to sign all of his role-player UFA’s: Derek Ryan, Nick Bjugstad, Mattias Janmark and Devin Shore?”
- “Ryan likely will get signed, but maybe they try to get it done for less than his $1.25 million because he’s 37. He’s valuable as a winger/centre, right-shot face-off guy.”
- “Bjugstad, making $900,000, maybe too. He did good work on the PK and in the faceoff circle and had three playoff goals.”
- “Janmark ($1.25 million) may get aced out by Ryan.”
- “Shore, $850,000, is a good soldier but coach Jay Woodcroft never played him in 28 playoff games over the last two years.”
- “He needs Dylan Holloway to be an everyday player on the wing at $925,000 and Philip Broberg to be a top six D-man at $863,000. And, if RW Raphael Lavoie, 25 goals in Bakersfield, could somehow get a forward spot, too (he has to be signed, but it’ll be cheap money), it would be hallelujah time for Holland.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Me thinks that Bouchard opts for the bridge deal in hopes of scoring a long-term mega-deal like Darnell Nurse did.

$1.5M seems high for McLeod. I feel like they’ll try to get him down closer to $1.25M or lower.

Klim Kostin doesn’t have a lot of leverage in my opinion and may just have to settle for his qualifying offer.

Derek Ryan should be a part-time NHLer going forward if he’s to sign with the Oilers. There’s nothing wrong with rotating him in and out of the lineup with Rafa Lavoie and another veteran free agent signing. He’s still going to bring value and he’s the kind of player you’d like to be able to have in more of a full-time role come playoff time.

Janmark is outtie 5000. He wasn’t happy with his deployment this year and he’ll be looking to join a club that’ll give him more or a prominent role.

Was it Bob Stauffer throwing out $1.5M-$2M/yr for Bjugstad? Well, even if it wasn’t, I don’t know about doubling his salary after such a small sample size. I dig him, don’t get me wrong, but there’s an element of risk there and the thing I don’t like is Woodcroft seemed very comfortable moving Bjugstad into the top-6 in the playoffs where he got his ass handed to him.

If Broberg is on the Oilers after the trade deadline I’ll be surprised and depending on how Dylan Holloway’s season goes early on, he might not be on the team to start the 2023/24 season either. He should be though. If Edmonton can be patient with his progression, they’ll have themselves a middle-six forward at the very least and a top-six one at best.

The Athletic

How the Oilers roster could soon look different: Who stays? Who goes?

“Holland said on Wednesday he’d find a solution to ensure Bouchard gets a new contract.”
“The Oilers do need cheap players to fill out their roster and Broberg fits the bill since he has one more year on his entry-level contract. That’s probably reason enough to keep him around.”
“Campbell is basically untradeable right now and a buyout goes until 2031, which is way too burdensome.”
“There were some rough moments in the playoffs, but those shouldn’t cloud the previous three months Desharnais spent with the team. The coach loves him, he’s huge, he kills penalties and he’s on a below-league-minimum deal.”
“Never say never on Holloway being dealt, but it’s hard to fathom how that happens.”
“…money is tight and Bjugstad might be a luxury the Oilers can’t afford right now.”
“Kostin is an RFA with arbitration rights and might be too rich for the Oilers’ blood. Given his lack of ice time — an average of 10:04 in the regular season and 7:44 in the postseason — they’ve gotten used to playing without him.”
“Shore would be best served to look for employment elsewhere. That’s the most probable outcome.”
“Foegele’s name was in the rumour mill last summer… Foegele’s $2.75 million cap hit is still a tad inflated, yet his place on the team seems more secure than ever.”
“The odds of Kulak leaving are low, especially after the excellent season and playoffs he had.”
“One option for the Oilers if they ditch Ceci is to promote Kulak, put him on his off-side next to Nurse, and see what shakes down by the trade deadline.”
“It’s a shame for Yamamoto to be on the outs, especially after he was on arguably the best line in the league with Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins three years ago. But it really feels like that’s where this is headed.”
“The emergence of Desharnais has put Niemelainen’s place in the organization in jeopardy.”

BLH’s Thoughts: Unless Bouchard really gets stuck in, he’ll be an Oiler next season.

Jack Campbell will start the year in Edmonton but if he has another shit regular season, I think all possibilities are on the table.

Edmonton needs cheap NHLers and Broberg, Holloway, and Desharnais fit that bill perfectly, even if they’re contributing from the bottom of the roster. Now, they might have unsavory bonuses structured into their contracts that could cause a bit of pain next season but even so, the Oilers have to be living in the now and worrying about the future when it arrives.

I wonder if the team would give Shore a minor league deal. The Condors could use him.

Foegele was dealing with a wrist issue in the latter half of the year but I don’t see how you look at him and think there’s a top-six forward there. When he’s healthy he handles the puck like a grenade with the pin pulled out. However, if the team is deep enough to play him on the 3rd line for next season, he’ll likely stick around, but with that said, I don’t know if he’ll be with the club beyond that.

Keep Kulak. He can move up and down the depth chart for short stints if need be. Plus it forces the team to slow role Philip Broberg too. IF they keep the young Swede, that is.

Trade Rumors

NHLRumors.com

New York Islanders goaltender, and Vezina Trophy finalist Ilya Sorokin is entering the final year of his contract. He’ll carry a $4 million salary cap hit. The Islanders need to sign him to an extension this offseason.
The Toronto Maple Leafs shouldn’t be blowing it up but there is some change that is needed, and it forward Mitch Marner should the player to be moved.
The Minnesota Wild and Matt Dumba would like to find a way to make it work, but the Wild just don’t have the money available. Unless the Wild are able to shed some salary – Marcus Foligno or Marc-Andre Fleury – he’ll be playing elsewhere next year.
The Detroit Red Wings could be eyeing the trade market in search of some offense.
Calgary has two goalies in Dan Vladar and Jacob Markstrom. However, the Flames have a great prospect in Dustin Wolf. Wolf has won goaltender in the AHL for the last two years and is ready to take on the role in Calgary… As Steinberg writes he could see Vladar or Markstrom getting traded to make room for Wolf.

BLH’s Thoughts: How much of a player are the Buffalo Sabres going to be this offseason with all of that cap room? I wonder if Marner would be a good fit there?

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Dumba signs in Washington. Their RHD depth is weak to put it nicely.

Steve Yzerman has done a really nice job in Detroit. Maybe the Red Wings would be another option for Marner if they’re intending on upgrading their forwards group. Personally, I think another defenseman wouldn’t hurt.

Is it a far-fetched idea to think the Flames could get a better return for Vladar than Markstrom?