On the Edmonton Oilers …
Allan Mitchell of The Athletic: Looking at three areas of need for the Oilers this offseason, and the top free agents at that position.
Right-handed defenseman – one that can play on the power-play. John Carlson is the top option. Other options include Mike Green, Chris Wideman, and Tim Heed.
Scoring winger – Someone that can play with Leon Draisaitl. Maple Leafs winger James van Riemsdyk is the top free agent option. Other Leafs that might interest the Oilers in a trade – Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown, Andreas Johnsson and Josh Leivo.
Backup goaltender – Coyotes Antti Raanta would be the top goaltender. Potential other options include Carter Hutton, Anton Khudobin, and Michael Hutchinson.
It would cost between $14 and $16 million to land all three (Carlson, JvR and Raanta), and there is no way that any one team could sign all the top players at each position.
The Oilers also need to stop giving players no-movement clauses on long-term deals.
The Oilers have 15 players under contract next season at a combined cap hit of $62.316 million. They have pending free agents to sign – Darnell Nurse, Ryan Strome, Drake Caggiula, Anton Slepyshev, Iiro Pakarinen, Ty Rattie and Matt Benning. That won’t leave the Oilers with much cap space, unless they make other deals.
On the San Jose Sharks …
Kevin Kurz of The Athletic: (mailbag) Think it’s possible the Sharks look to bring free agent Eric Fehr back next year. He’ll be 33-years old at the start of next season and he wouldn’t cost them a lot. The Sharks don’t have a lot of depth down the middle.
Defenseman Paul Martin is likely the only potential buyout option for the Sharks. He would carry a $4.85 million salary cap hit next year if they keep him and a buy out would give them an additional $2.83 million in cap space. A few months ago Mikkel Boedker may have been an option, but he’s played well the past couple month.
doesn’t think there have been any contract talks between the Sharks and Evander Kane. If there have been, they haven’t been serious. Indications are that they would wait until after the season. Kane will probably be looking for a six- or seven-year deal in the $7 million per season range. thinks the Sharks will want to get a deal done.
