Connor Brown Is Day-To-Day, Oilers Play Short A Player Against Nashville
Oilers winger Connor Brown took the pregame today but play-by-play voice Jack Michaels relayed (Twitter link) that he wound up being a late scratch. He’s officially listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Edmonton doesn’t have enough cap space to carry an extra forward so they played today’s game against Nashville short a player. Accordingly, it makes them eligible for an emergency cap-exempt recall of a forward making $875K or less should Brown still be unable to play on Monday against Vancouver.
It’s worth mentioning that when Brown does suit up for his next game, he will receive a $3.25MM bonus as part of the contract he signed with Edmonton this summer, one that guaranteed him just the NHL minimum. Any amount of that bonus that the Oilers can’t absorb on their books this season would be treated as a carryover penalty and would count against their 2024-25 cap charges.
Edmonton Oilers Recall Raphael Lavoie
The Edmonton Oilers have announced they have recalled forward Raphael Lavoie from their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. Although not confirmed, it is likely due to the apparent injury to forward Connor Brown in last night’s game against the Dallas Stars, causing him to leave the rest of the game in the second period.
In what will only be the second callup of his young career, Lavoie has been one of the better-performing members of the Condors over the last several seasons. A second-round pick by the Oilers in the 2019 NHL Draft, Lavoie has amassed a total of 141 games for Bakersfield, scoring 47 goals and 41 assists.
Given that the team only has 12 forwards on their active roster, if Brown is unable to play tomorrow against the Nashville Predators, Lavoie will be guaranteed to make his NHL debut. In all honesty, it may not be the worst idea in the world for the Oilers to add a different player to their bottom six, as the current group at the bottom of the forward core has yet to deliver in any meaningful way to start the season.
With a large frame and a more-than-ready NHL shot, Lavoie could have some staying power with Edmonton for much of the season. However, his foot speed leaves a lot to be desired, and he has appeared to take a handful of games off with Bakersfield over the last several years.
Oilers Loan Philip Broberg To Minors
The Edmonton Oilers have assigned defenseman Philip Broberg to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, per a team announcement issued Friday.
Broberg has played limited minutes this season, skating in eight games and averaging just 11:12 per game. He’s been held off the scoresheet entirely and has a -1 rating.
However, this isn’t necessarily a performance-based demotion. The Oilers are now without Connor Brown for tomorrow’s game against Nashville as he deals with an undisclosed injury, meaning they’ll need to recall a forward for Saturday’s contest. That won’t solve all their issues, however. The Oilers do not have cap space for two recalls after assigning Broberg to the minors, only one – meaning they’ll still likely roll with 11 forwards and six defenders against the Predators and play a skater short. Assigning Broberg to the minors allows them to carry a more traditional lineup than dressing only ten forwards and seven defensemen.
It’s another bump in the road for the Oilers, who have struggled mightily this season and sit sixth in the Pacific Division with a 2-6-1 record and just five points. They’re receiving poor goaltending from Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner and receiving little to no depth scoring, with a handful of players in their bottom six still without a point on the season. They did receive a boost last night from Sam Gagner, however, who notched two goals in his first game in his third stint as an Oiler last night against Dallas. Gagner is projected to slide into the top six against Nashville on a line with Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Broberg, in the meantime, will get some reps in the minors with Bakersfield and play heavier minutes. This assignment will likely last until one or both of the Oilers’ injured forwards, Brown and Mattias Janmark, are ready to return to game action.
Evening Notes: Oilers, Faksa, Fabbri
Sam Gagner’s contract with the Edmonton Oilers has officially been registered today and the 34-year-old was called up by the team to their NHL roster (CapFriendly). The move coincided with winger Adam Erne clearing waivers and being assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate the Bakersfield Condors. Gagner will begin his third stint with the Oilers after missing the end of last season and training camp with a hip injury.
The former sixth overall pick played three AHL games last week picking up a goal and four assists while driving a lot of the offense for the Condors. The Oilers will be looking for him to provide depth scoring for a lineup that has appeared top-heavy this season. Gagner has been a solid offensive contributor throughout his career despite bouncing around the league to seven different teams during his 16-year NHL career.
For Erne, he returns to the AHL after going scoreless in six games for the Oilers this season. The 28-year-old split last season between the NHL and AHL in the Detroit Red Wings organization. He posted five points in nine AHL games last season while registering eight goals and 10 assists in 61 NHL games.
In other evening notes:
- Dallas Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine is reporting that Stars forward Radek Faksa will miss tonight’s game with what is being described as an upper-body injury. Faksa skated with the team yesterday before leaving on their road trip and by all accounts seemed fine. No word yet on what has changed between then and now or any specifics on the ailment. Faksa is off to a slow start offensively this season with no points in seven games, however the Stars are off to a torrid 5-1-1 start thanks in part to Faksa’s penalty killing and defensive acumen.
- Detroit Hockey Now writer Kevin Allen is reporting that Robby Fabbri of the Detroit Red Wings returned to practice today and could be coming off the injured reserve sooner rather than later. Fabbri is ahead of schedule according to Allen but will still miss the Red Wings next two games. The 27-year-old has dressed in just a single game this season and has one goal thus far. He has been sidelined with a lower-body issue but could return next week against the New York Rangers or Montreal Canadiens.
Oilers Sign Sam Gagner To Two-Way Deal, Mattias Janmark Day-To-Day
4:02 p.m.: Edmonton has made the contract official, issuing an announcement via Twitter/X Tuesday afternoon.
2:40 p.m.: The Oilers have signed veteran forward Sam Gagner to a one-year deal, per PuckPedia. The deal carries a $775K cap hit and will pay him $250K in the minors.
This essentially amounts to a call-up in place of depth winger Adam Erne, who the Oilers placed on waivers earlier today. Gagner attended Edmonton’s training camp on a PTO but was not initially signed to an NHL contract, instead signing an AHL contract with the Oilers’ affiliate in Bakersfield while he completed his recovery from hip surgery undergone in March. As such, this contract will not be registered with the league until tomorrow. The Oilers have $429,766 in current cap space, per CapFriendly, and will need to assign Erne to the minors to clear the space for Gagner’s contract.
The 34-year-old, once a sixth-overall pick by the Oilers in 2007, looked no worse for wear in three contests with AHL Bakersfield over the last week. The Condors won by at least three goals in every game in which Gagner played, and he tallied two multi-point efforts en route to a goal, four assists and a +4 rating.
Gagner is likely to make his 2023-24 Oilers debut on Thursday against Dallas, playing on an undermanned fourth line with Derek Ryan as the team ices 11 forwards and seven defensemen while Mattias Janmark is on the shelf with a shoulder injury. Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft told media today that Janmark’s timeline is day-to-day after he missed last Sunday’s Heritage Classic (via Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic).
That will kick off Gagner’s third stint with the Oilers in his 16-season, 1,015-game NHL career. His first lasted seven seasons and 481 games from draft day in 2007 until the 2014 offseason, when the Oilers traded Gagner to the Lightning for winger Teddy Purcell. He would never play a game for the Lightning, however, as they flipped him to the Coyotes (along with enforcer B.J. Crombeen) in exchange for a sixth-round pick the same day.
Gagner would then bounce around the NHL, playing for four teams (the Coyotes, Flyers, Blue Jackets, and Canucks) in the next four seasons. His point output varied to just 16 in 53 games with the Flyers in 2015-16, earning him a brief demotion to the AHL, to a career-high 50 in 81 games the following season with Columbus.
In 2018-19, his second season with the Canucks, Gagner was again demoted to the AHL to begin the season, spending most of the campaign outside the organization on loan to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. That changed on February 16, 2019, when the Canucks traded him back to the Oilers in exchange for forward Ryan Spooner. Gagner’s second stint with Edmonton helped re-establish his NHL career, as he remained on the NHL roster for the remainder of the season and registered ten points in 25 games.
His time in Alberta would be short-lived this time around, however. Just a few days after the one-year anniversary of his re-acquisition, the Oilers shipped out Gagner at the trade deadline to the Red Wings in a deal for forward Andreas Athanasiou. Gagner would spend the following two seasons after the COVID pause in the Motor City, providing solid depth production and a needed veteran presence on a struggling team. He signed as a free agent with the Jets for the 2022-23 campaign, where he scored eight goals and added six assists for 14 points in 48 games before hip surgery shut down his season.
Now fully recovered, he’ll look to once again bring a solid bottom-six game to Edmonton. He may not have the offensive ceiling of the player who once notched eight points in a game for Edmonton in the early 2010s, but he has a well-rounded offensive skill set that helps drive play further down on the depth chart. He’s posted positive relative possession numbers over the past three seasons with the Red Wings and Jets and should be an upgrade over Erne, who was without a point in six games and had posted a staggering relative Corsi share of -10.7% at even strength.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Oilers Place Adam Erne On Waivers
The Edmonton Oilers have placed forward Adam Erne on waivers. The 28-year-old has played in six games for Edmonton this season, going without a point and recording one fight. His most recent game with the club was the Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames.
Erne is on his third NHL club in Edmonton, after splitting seven years between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings. He played in 61 games with the Wings last season, netting eight goals and 18 points. It was only two points shy of his career-high of 20 points; a mark he reached in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Erne played nine AHL games last season, netting no goals and five assists. They were his first AHL games since 2017-18, speaking to the depth role he managed to carve out with his previous clubs. But without a correlating move, it seems the Oilers are transitioning to an 11-forward, seven-defenseman setup, icing Vincent Desharnais in Erne’s place.
Edmonton could also opt to recall a forward in Erne’s absence, as they aren’t currently carrying any healthy scratches. Raphael Lavoie currently leads Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, in scoring with seven points in five games. Xavier Bourgault has also had a strong showing through his first five games of the year, nettings four points and a +4 +/-.
Whatever move Edmonton makes following Erne’s assignment will need to be impactful. The team currently sits at a desolate 2-5-1 record, with a slim 22 goals-for on the season. Connor McDavid took a maintenance day at the team’s Tuesday practice and will hope to remain consistent in the lineup, helping alleviate some of Edmonton’s scoring woes.
Mattias Janmark Out With Shoulder Injury
Oilers forward Mattias Janmark did not dress in Sunday’s Heritage Classic win over the Flames, per Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic, and the 30-year-old is listed as out with a shoulder injury with no timeline for a return. Defenseman Vincent Desharnais drew into the lineup in his place, scoring his first NHL goal in the process as the Oilers dressed seven defensemen for the fourth time this season.
Janmark, now in his eighth NHL season, signed a one-year, $1MM extension to remain an Oiler in June. The depth scoring winger has been held off the scoresheet through seven games, however, averaging 13:05 and posting a -2 rating. He hasn’t been shooting the puck as often as we’re used to seeing – he’s averaging just one shot per game, but his teammates haven’t helped him out in the assist department, either. The Oilers are shooting just 2.9% with Janmark on the ice at even strength, and his possession numbers have actually been quite good to begin the season with a 56.5% Corsi share. The Oilers do not have cap space for a corresponding recall, so unless Janmark lands on LTIR as a result of his shoulder ailment, Edmonton will roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the time being.
Connor McDavid Returns To Practice
As both the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames take the ice at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta today for practice in preparation for the 2023 Heritage Classic tomorrow evening, several reports are coming out of the Oilers practice that captain Connor McDavid has joined his teammates on the ice (X Link). There is growing excitement throughout Edmonton that McDavid will be in the Heritage Classic tomorrow, after missing the last two games.
The injury status of McDavid appears to be a bit complicated, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had mentioned he was extremely pessimistic that McDavid would be available for the Heritage Classic, given the nature of his injury and the atypical playing conditions on an outdoor rink. Given the importance of McDavid to the Oilers and the NHL in general, it is more than unlikely that Edmonton is trying to rush McDavid back, but he may have healed quicker than previously thought.
The team could certainly use him back on the ice regardless of whether it is the Heritage Classic or not, as the Oilers have still only managed one win in their first seven games to start the regular season. If the team is set to take a step in the right direction on the season, there is no better team to do it against than their in-province rival.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Edmonton Oilers
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2023-24 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Edmonton Oilers
Current Cap Hit: $83,117,240 (under the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
D Philip Broberg (one year, $863K)
F Dylan Holloway (one year, $925K)
Potential Bonuses
Broberg: $850K
Holloway: $650K
Holloway was certainly eased into NHL action last season as he averaged less than ten minutes a game, not necessarily ideal for an offensive-minded player. This year, the early usage is similar but they’re hoping he’ll work his way into a bigger role eventually. As things stand, he’ll be hard-pressed to reach his bonuses and is almost certainly heading for a short-term bridge deal next year that will get him a small raise but not much more.
Broberg is following a similar path as Holloway. He saw semi-regular action with the Oilers last year but in a very limited role with this season following the same trajectory to start. Again, that makes his bonuses unlikely to be reached (which is notable given how tight to the cap they are now) and puts him in line for a low-cost bridge deal as Edmonton has done with several others coming off their entry-level deals recently.
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
F Connor Brown ($775K, UFA)
D Vincent Desharnais ($762.5K, RFA)
F Adam Erne ($775K, UFA)
F Warren Foegele ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Mattias Janmark ($1MM, UFA)
Potential Bonuses
Brown: $3.225MM
Brown’s contract is the cheapest on paper but will cost them the most as that bonus payout is payable once he gets to ten games played. Barring injury, he’ll get there less than two weeks from now. The pickup was a bit of a gamble since he was coming off ACL surgery but there was definitely an upside play to it. He’ll need to show that he’s healthy and productive to have a shot at commanding that much guaranteed money on a multi-year deal next summer.
Foegele has been a subject of trade speculation for a while thanks to his contract. For a third-liner, it’s not an overpayment but with their cap situation, it has been wondered if it’s a premium they can afford. With the crunch on contracts for depth players in recent years, it’s unlikely there’s a big raise coming his way but a similar-sized multi-year deal should be doable. Janmark cleared waivers last season but wound up playing a regular role most nights but is in that replacement-level range which makes it difficult for him to command much more than this bearing a breakout year. Erne just signed earlier this week on a two-way deal, a sign that his market wasn’t the strongest either.
Desharnais is a late-bloomer but is basically a sixth or seventh defender at this point of his career. His value to Edmonton is the below-minimum contract. As things stand, he might garner enough interest to get close to the $1MM mark next summer but will need to be in the lineup more often than not to have a shot at that.
Signed Through 2024-25
D Evan Bouchard ($3.9MM, RFA)
D Cody Ceci ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Leon Draisaitl ($8.5MM, UFA)
F Ryan McLeod ($2.1MM, RFA)
F Derek Ryan ($900K, UFA)
Technically, Draisaitl is the second-best threat on the Oilers but that certainly doesn’t mean that he’d be a second option elsewhere. On most teams, he’d be their top-line center and their go-to scorer. Edmonton has benefitted significantly with his contract, one that is significantly below market. He has been one of the top scorers in the league in the past decade (second only to his teammate) and between that and the fact he plays a premium position, Draisaitl is in a position to command a record-setting contract on the open market, ahead of the $13.25MM that Auston Matthews received earlier this year from Toronto. However, if he wants to stay in Edmonton, it seems like he might have to settle for a bit less than that.
McLeod is one of the players who had to take the cheap one-year deal coming off his entry-level pact although that swung the leverage hammer to him as he had arbitration rights this summer. He improved on his numbers from 2021-22 despite playing in 14 fewer games which helped him jump past the $2MM mark. If he continues to improve, his value could be closer to $3.5MM next time around. Ryan receiving a two-year deal was a surprise considering he turns 37 in December. If he gets another contract, it’ll be around this price tag while Edmonton will be looking to keep this roster spot as close to the minimum as possible.
Draisaitl shouldn’t be the only big-ticket deal Edmonton will have to contend with in 2025. Bouchard had a breakout second half and a strong playoff performance, making his bridge deal more expensive than the Oilers likely expected. If he continues on that trajectory, he could more than double his current price tag on his next deal. Ceci’s second season with Edmonton wasn’t as good as his first but he still held down a top-four role. As long as that’s the case, they’ll get decent value but history has shown he’s typically better off in the fifth spot on the depth chart which doesn’t help his open-market value which, at this point, is probably close to what he’s making now.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Mattias Ekholm ($6MM, UFA)*
F Evander Kane ($5.125MM, UFA)
D Brett Kulak ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Connor McDavid ($12.5MM, UFA)
G Stuart Skinner ($2.6MM, UFA)
*-Nashville is retaining an additional $250K per season on Ekholm’s contract.
McDavid had held the record for the highest AAV in NHL history until Nathan MacKinnon passed that this year. It certainly feels like it’s only a matter of time before he reclaims that title, potentially passing Draisaitl to re-take the crown. A three-time Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP, McDavid has led the league in scoring in three straight years and five out of the last seven. He plays a premium position and he’ll only be 29 when his next contract begins. That means a max-term deal (eight years if he re-signs, seven if he was to go elsewhere) is basically a lock. As is the case with Draisaitl, if the two want to stay together in Edmonton, McDavid will also need to leave money on the table to do so given their cap situation.
Kane impressed after joining Edmonton midway through the 2021-22 campaign and was off to a good start last year before being slowed by a lacerated wrist. If he can get back to that level of performance, they’ll do well with this deal but it’s fair to say that he has struggled out of the gate. He’ll be 35 when this deal is up so he might be hard-pressed to beat this contract at that time.
Ekholm has been a steady 30-point defender who logs heavy minutes for basically the better part of the last eight years. He’s not a number one option but a capable number two or a high-end number three. This contract falls in line nicely with either of those two roles, for now at least. He’ll be 36 in the final season so that could be a small concern given his heavy workload. Again, with his age, it’s difficult to see him beating this price on his next contract. Kulak does well in a limited role but while he can handle top-four minutes, he often struggles with the extra workload. That makes this contract a bit on the expensive side and if they need to try to trim more from their payroll, Kulak could be a strong candidate to be the cap casualty.
Most of Skinner’s first full NHL season went quite well. He was an All-Star and it looked like they had an in-house solution to their long-term goalie struggles. The playoffs were another story as he struggled mightily and his first few outings this year haven’t been the greatest. With the current backup market, as long as he’s a league-average option, they’ll get a reasonable return so this contract should hold up relatively well over time.
Sam Gagner Signs AHL Contract
Former Edmonton Oilers forward Sam Gagner has reportedly signed a contract with the team’s AHL affiliate the Bakersfield Condors and will join the team. The veteran of over 1,000 NHL games was on a tryout with the Oilers but was unable to dress for any preseason games during training camp after signing his PTO in late August.
The 34-year-old has suited up for seven different NHL teams over the course of his 16-year NHL career and will return to the AHL for the first time since 2019-20 when he coincidently also played for the Condors.
This is Gagner’s third run with the Oilers organization after they drafted him in the first round, sixth overall in the 2007 NHL entry draft. Although he never lived up to the promise he showed as an 18-year-old when he posted 13 goals and 36 assists in 79 games, he has a solid career with 519 points in 1,015 games.
Gagner is trying to get back to the NHL after undergoing double hip surgery in March of this year which led to him missing the end of last year as well as the preseason. He was a decent depth option with the Winnipeg Jets last year posting eight goals and six assists in 48 games while playing just 12 minutes a night. But, if he can perform anywhere close to his 2021-22 numbers in which he posted 31 points in 81 games with the Detroit Red Wings, he could give himself a real shot to earn a pro-rated NHL deal this season. Especially with the Oilers, who have struggled to find any kind of depth to start the season.
Gagner will take some time to work himself into game shape, but this isn’t unchartered waters for the London, Ontario native as he has been down the AHL road before on three separate occasions. As mentioned earlier, Gagner spent part of the 2019-20 season in the AHL, as well as 43 games with the Toronto Marlies in 2018-19 and a nine-game stint with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the 2015-16 season.