The 50 Oilers

With the deadline to make qualifying offers now passed, we have a reasonable idea of what the 50 Man List will look like heading into free agency, as well as the cap space the Oilers will have.

Main Roster – 65.277, 6.123 Space
1. F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 6.000
2. F Jordan Eberle – 6.000
3. F Taylor Hall – 6.000
4. F Teddy Purcell – 4.500
5. F Benoit Pouliot – 4.000
6. F Connor McDavid – 3.775
7. F Boyd Gordon – 3.000
8. F Nail Yakupov – 2.500
9. F Matt Hendricks – 1.850
10. F Anton Lander – 0.988
11. F Luke Gazdic – 0.800
12. F Rob Klinkhammer – 0.725
13. F Andrew Miller – 0.630
14. D Nikita Nikitin – 4.500
15. D Justin Schultz – 3.675 (His Qualifying Offer Amount, this could change)
16. D Mark Fayne – 3.625
17. D Andrew Ference – 3.250
18. D Griffin Reinhart – 3.214
19. D Eric Gryba – 1.250
20. D Oscar Klefbom – 1.245
21. G Ben Scrivens – 2.300
22. G Cam Talbot – 1.450

System
23. F Iiro Pakarinen
24. F Tyler Pitlick
25. F Ryan Hamilton
26. F Kyle Platzer
27. F Leon Draisaitl
28. F Anton Slepyshev
29. F Mitchell Moroz
30. F Jujhar Khaira
31. F Bogdan Yakimov
32. F Gregory Chase
33. F Kale Kessy
34. D Joey LaLeggia
35. D Ben Betker
36. D Darnell Nurse
37. D David Musil
38. D Dillon Simpson
39. D Jordan Oesterle
40. D Martin Gernat
41. D Brandon Davidson
42. D Brad Hunt
43. G Laurent Brossoit
44. G Eetu Laurikainen

Let’s take a look at the list. First of all, for the cap hit calculation, it is important to note that I included all of the rookie bonuses to illustrate the “worst case scenario.” The Oilers could spend more than the cap space amount I have indicated, but they would risk having a bonus overage tapped on to next years cap. If none of Klefbom, Reinhart, or McDavid met any of their bonus requirements, the Oilers would have significantly more cap space, however this is unrealistic.

Some people may question some of the player decisions I have. Firstly, I have top prospects Draisaitl and Nurse in the AHL, and Andrew Miller in the NHL. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is the cap space issue. Let’s say the Oilers replace Miller with Draisaitl and add Nurse to the roster. If you account for bonuses, this adds $4.484m towards the cap, which would reduce the cap space to only $1.639m. The Oilers couldn’t realistically add a much needed top 4 defenceman to the roster and not go way over the cap next season. Even as I have the cap here, there isn’t much room. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a player or players moved out to make some room. Purcell, Gordon, Nikitin, Schultz, Ference, and Scrivens are all players who could be moved to make cap space.

Now, I have Andrew Miller on the starting roster. I think he could show well in camp and could make the roster, but also, I can’t see him clearing waivers so I think he sticks around. He was excellent in his time in Edmonton at the end of the season.

I have Griffin Reinhart sticking around on defense because that seems to be the plan at the moment. If he has a poor showing at the beginning of the season though, it’s possible that we see a completely different rookie here on opening night. Nurse, Musil, Simpson, Oesterle, Davidson, and Hunt are all players who will be competing hard for a roster spot.

If we assume the Oilers want to max out at 47 contracts to leave some space, we could see 3 free agents signed this summer, unless a contract is moved out.

Oilers invite RHD Loik Leveille to camp! @Lowetide @JonathanWillis Thought he'd go 3rd-4th round in the draft. https://t.co/iyHYEt6mkC

— Mark Bowie (@bowiepuck) June 29, 2015

If Leveille has a good showing at camp he could get an ELC from the Oilers, but his contract wouldn’t count because he would be assigned to juniors. It will be interesting to see if the Oilers bring Vladimir Tkachev back to camp. They can sign him now and he could play in the AHL next season. He would count as a contract.

Thanks for reading everyone! Let me know in the comments below if you agree or disagree with my 50 man list and please follow me on Twitter and Like us on Facebook!