Alex Chiasson is the most prominent unrestricted free agent that the Oilers have to re-sign but it doesn’t appear as if they’re in a big hurry to get a deal done. His agent Pat Morris told Postmedia’s Jim Matheson that they’ve spoken but that there haven’t been serious discussions just yet. The winger is coming off of a career season that saw him score 22 goals, more than he tallied in the previous two years combined. That will certainly have him in line for a raise after making the league minimum in 2018-19 but with his previous track record and Edmonton’s cap situation, finding the right price point could be tricky. Matheson suggests a deal similar to that of Zack Kassian’s (three years with a $1.95MM AAV) could make sense but is new GM Ken Holland going to be comfortable paying that to someone who has needed training camp PTOs to get contracts the last two seasons?
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- The re-signing of winger Jeff Skinner should change their focus in free agency, suggests Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. Instead of looking to shop at the top end of the market, GM Jason Botterill may instead look to shore up their depth, an area that was a concern this past season. As things stand, the Sabres have a little over $62.5MM in commitments for next season, per CapFriendly and several RFAs in need of new deals still. However, depending on how much the salary cap goes up, Botterill could still have enough money to try to add an impact piece this summer.
- Winger Tomas Jurco has drawn interest from several NHL teams about a deal for next season, reports John Dietz of the Daily Herald. As he’s currently only on a minor league contract, he’s free to talk to teams now and doesn’t have to wait for the interview period to open up after the draft. The 26-year-old, who has over 200 NHL games under his belt, has been quite productive for Charlotte in the AHL playoffs, averaging over a point per game so far. The Checkers can put an end to the Calder Cup Finals later tonight as they’re up 3-1 in their best-of-seven series against Chicago.