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.
Connor McDavid Expected To Miss Heritage Classic
Boston Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort missed Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury and has been announced as day-to-day. Forbort has appeared in four games so far this season, recording two points and a +3. Fourth-year pro, Ian Mitchell, slotted into the NHL lineup in Forbort’s absence, recording one assist and two penalties in 10 minutes of ice time. Mitchell slotted in for an injured Kevin Shattenkirk on Saturday – earning his first two games of the season over the weekend.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- Connor McDavid has been announced as out for one-to-two weeks with an upper-body injury. This comes at terrible timing, with Edmonton playing in the 2023 Heritage Classic on October 29th. In the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman was pessimistic that McDavid would play in the matchup, given the uncertainty of outdoor playing conditions. Friedman added that McDavid not appearing in the overtime period of Saturday night’s game is a sign of how serious the injury is being taken. There are few players in the league who impact a lineup more than McDavid, and there’s no doubt the league hoped he would play in the upcoming outdoor game, so all eyes will turn toward how this injury progresses.
- Detroit Red Wings forward Klim Kostin also missed Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury and is considered day-to-day. He’s played in four games this season, failing to record a point and tallying seven penalty minutes. Jonatan Berggren slotted into Kostin’s lineup spot, only recording one shot on the stat line in 13-and-a-half minutes of ice time. Kostin is on a newly signed, two-year contract that carries an annual average value of $2.0MM.
- Artem Zub is expected to be out for the Ottawa Senators’ next game. In response, Ottawa has recalled Jacob Bernard-Docker from the AHL. Zub has played in four games this season and recorded three points, a mark that ranks Zub in the top three of Senators’ defender scoring. Bernard-Docker has played a sole game for Ottawa this year; only his 33rd NHL game despite being around the league since 2020-21. Bernard-Docker is expected to slot into the NHL lineup again with Zub out, although the Senators are practicing with seven defenders.
Connor McDavid Out With Upper-Body Injury
After last night’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets in overtime, the Edmonton Oilers have even more bad news coming down the pipeline. In an update this afternoon, the team has announced that the captain of the team, Connor McDavid, will miss the next one to two weeks with an upper-body injury.
As one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season, the Oilers have been one of the most disappointing teams to start the 2023-24 NHL season. In five games played, including the loss to Winnipeg last night, the Oilers are the owners of a 1-3-1 record, good for 29th in the league standings as things currently stand.
Nevertheless, the team still has 77 games to correct the dismal start, but the loss of McDavid is about as substantial as possible. Even after only recording one win in the first five games, it is in spite of McDavid getting off to another solid start. In the first handful of games to start the season, McDavid has averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per night, scoring two goals and six assists, which is good for 12th in the league in scoring to start the year. 
Thankfully for the Oilers, seeing McDavid on the injured reserve has not been a common occurrence during his career in the NHL, he has seemingly only missed time due to injury during his rookie season in 2015-16, as well as towards the end of the 2019-20 season.
In the meantime, even without the injury to McDavid, the Oilers need a wake-up call to most of their team in the early part of the season. Aside from the usual suspects of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman, the depth in Edmonton has failed to make a positive on the club so far this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Connor McDavid Suffers An Apparent Injury
It has been a bumpy start to the season for the Edmonton Oilers, and things could become even more difficult. Greg Wyshynski of ESPN is reporting that Oilers superstar center Connor McDavid suffered an apparent injury in the third period of Edmonton’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets last night.
McDavid’s last shift occurred with 4:20 left in the third period as he remained on the bench through the final minutes of regulation as well as all of overtime. The 26-year-old phenom’s final two shifts were 33 and 34 seconds long, a huge decrease from his usual shift length of 56 seconds. McDavid could be seen in visible discomfort on his final shift as he grabbed at his side on a rush play.
After the game Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said he had yet to speak with the trainers, but he believed McDavid’s ailment was a muscular issue. He added that the team would likely have more information later today or tomorrow.
The Oilers can ill afford to lose McDavid for any length of time. Edmonton is viewed as a cup contender by many pundits, although they haven’t started the season like one. The Oilers already sit nine points behind the defending Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights and have only collected three points through five games.
Even with McDavid in the lineup Edmonton has struggled. They’ve posted a record of 1-3-1 on the season and have twice blown leads including a two-goal lead last night against Winnipeg. McDavid has done his part thus far with eight points in five games, however, the rest of the team has been outworked and overmatched throughout much of the season.
If McDavid is out for any length of time the Oilers start to the season could go from bumpy to rocky very quickly.
Markus Niemeläinen Clears Waivers
Saturday: Niemeläinen has cleared waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. He has been assigned to Bakersfield.
Friday: The Edmonton Oilers announced they’ve placed defenseman Markus Niemeläinen on waivers. With Niemeläinen now cleared to play and eligible for waivers and a subsequent AHL assignment to the Bakersfield Condors, the team will add a forward before tomorrow’s home opener against the Vancouver Canucks, says The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman.
It seems unlikely Niemeläinen will be claimed by another team over the next 24 hours, given he has just one assist in 43 NHL games to date. The 25-year-old Finn is strictly a shutdown defender, and he hasn’t managed to post positive possession numbers despite playing extremely sheltered minutes. His 6-foot-6 frame may be appealing to some teams, though.
He’d been dealing with a short-term undisclosed injury which prevented the Oilers from waiving him before the season started and, in part, forced them to play with 17 skaters due to salary cap constraints in Wednesday’s 8-1 road drubbing at the hands of the Canucks.
Niemeläinen is in the final season of a two-year, $1.525MM contract. While it carries a cap hit of just $762.5K, below the league minimum for this season, he is making the minimum $775K in actual salary this season at both the NHL and AHL levels. In 30 games with AHL Bakersfield last season, Niemeläinen notched two goals, five assists and seven points in 30 contests. Edmonton selected him in the third round, 63rd overall, of the 2016 NHL Draft.
Oilers Sign Adam Erne To Two-Way Deal
4:28 p.m.: Erne’s contract carries a $250K salary in the AHL and a $300K guarantee, per PuckPedia.
3:33 p.m.: The Edmonton Oilers signed veteran winger Adam Erne to a one-year, two-way deal, per a team announcement. Erne, 28, will earn $775K at the NHL level after spending camp with the Oilers on a professional tryout.
This contract likely won’t be officially registered until tomorrow after defenseman Markus Niemeläinen is off the roster one way or another – he was placed on waivers today. The Oilers currently have just $395K in cap space with a roster of 11 forwards and eight defensemen, per CapFriendly, and two of their defenders (Niemeläinen and Mattias Ekholm) were out with short-term injuries that prohibited them from dressing in Wednesday’s season opener. Putting Niemeläinen’s $762.5K cap hit in the minors – or on another team, if claimed – will afford the Oilers space to put Erne’s new deal on the books, giving them 12 forwards.
Signing Erne will also give them an extra skater for tomorrow’s game against Vancouver, as Ekholm is now expected to play after missing all of camp and the team’s first game of the season with a nagging hip injury. One of Philip Broberg or Vincent Desharnais will likely come out of the lineup to give Edmonton 12 forwards and six defensemen.
Erne is coming off a 2022-23 season in which he scored eight goals, ten assists and 18 points with 21 penalty minutes and a -12 rating in 61 games for the Detroit Red Wings. It was the type of production we’ve come to expect from the bottom-six winger, who’s amassed 40 goals, 49 assists and 89 points in 355 games over seven NHL seasons. Erne, a typical grinder and an early second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, will likely slot in alongside Mattias Janmark and Derek Ryan on the Oilers’ fourth line.
Edmonton Hires Dani Rylan Kearney As Scout
- The Edmonton Oilers have announced that Dani Rylan Kearney has been hired to the team’s hockey operations department as a regional scout. The former Northeastern Huskies captain is best known as the founder and commissioner of the NWHL, the professional women’s hockey league that became the PHF before ceasing operations this past summer. The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman reported that the Oilers had been “interested” in adding Rylan Kearney to the organization “for several months” and now the team has done so officially.
Edmonton Oilers Sign Beau Akey To Entry-Level Contract
The Edmonton Oilers have announced the signing of defenseman Beau Akey to a three-year entry-level contract. According to PuckPedia, the deal carries an $895k cap hit and an AAV of $950k with potential bonuses factored into the picture.
Akey, 18, was the Oilers’ top selection of their three-player 2023 draft class. Drafted in the second round, 56th overall, Akey impressed scouts and was ranked as high as 32nd overall by some draft publications.
The six-foot-tall right-shot blueliner is widely regarded as an exceptional skater who fits the mold of the modern, transition-oriented NHL defenseman. He scored 11 goals and 47 points in 66 games for the OHL’s Barrie Colts last season, and has gotten off to a decent start with the team this year scoring three points in four games.
Seeing as the Oilers have already placed Akey back with the Colts, it’s overwhelmingly likely that at least the first year of this entry-level deal will slide.
While Akey could certainly surprise in training camp next fall and snatch an NHL job, it’s likely that he’ll spend the next two seasons developing in the OHL before he tests the waters of pro hockey with the Oilers.