After publishing a earlier put up, by which I attempted to foretell which Edmonton Oilers may outperform their contracts this season, I assumed it would make sense to jot down the other kind of put up. With names like Ty Emberson and Evan Bouchard main the way in which with probably favorable contracts, not each deal the Oilers have signed will repay as handsomely as some may hope.
In actual fact, there are some whopper offers on this roster, and never in a great way.
Darnell Nurse (6 Extra Years, $9.25M)
You’ll be able to’t do a put up like this and never put Darnell Nurse on the prime of the listing. There’s a likelihood he might rebound from a tough 2023-24 season and play as much as the extent the workforce and most followers are hoping. That mentioned, there might by no means come a day when Nurse performs as much as the extent of a $9.25 million defenseman.
Nurse has loads of attributes the Oilers like and wish. Nonetheless, he obtained paid at a time when defensemen have been getting large cash and since the Oilers bridged him twice, they needed to pay up. With the wage cap rising, this deal will more and more look higher and higher over time, but it surely’s nonetheless handcuffing Edmonton. Nurse is might want to have an All-Star season, and even then, it gained’t change the minds of some followers.
Nurse must be a top-pairing defenseman, simply logging 22-24 minutes per evening and giving the Oilers strong minutes for that cash. As a substitute, issues are going into this season that he’s too inconsistent, he’s coming off an damage, and the workforce can’t discover the appropriate accomplice for him. All of these issues are working towards him.
Josh Brown (3 Years, $1M)
It’s not a lot the amount of cash the Oilers paid Josh Brown, it’s the three-year time period they gave him that has followers scratching their heads. It is a participant the Oilers teaching employees appears to love, however he’s not proven a lot in preseason and there are actual doubts he’s an everyday NHL-caliber participant.
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The Oilers might all the time place him on waivers, and hope a workforce claims him or sends him to the minors, however that’s not why the workforce signed him. There’s an expectation he’ll present some meat and potatoes for this group and he’ll doubtless play. If he can’t and will get caved in, no amount of cash was value signing him in free company when there have been doubtless higher choices.
Viktor Arvidsson (2 Years, $4M)
I consider Viktor Arvidsson may have a strong season and construct chemistry with Leon Draisaitl. That mentioned, at $4 million, if he doesn’t the Oilers signed a participant who was presupposed to be one of many options to their second-line points and paid $4 million for him. Arvidsson is a go-getter. He’s dogged on the puck and brings a component the Oilers might use. Nonetheless, he’s smaller and was a bit injury-prone earlier than signing in Edmonton.
The Oilers went after Arvidsson as a result of he’d been a thorn of their facet for a number of playoff sequence towards the workforce in latest seasons. They want this type of participant taking part in for them and never towards them. If he can’t carry that ingredient on a nightly foundation or he doesn’t mesh effectively with Draisaitl and Jeff Skinner, he might change into a participant the followers activate due to his wage.
It’s not an enormous quantity, however any workforce as tight to the cap because the Oilers might have used that cash to fill a significant gap on protection and that might observe a participant like Arvidsson round. It gained’t be his fault, however in a market like Edmonton, that usually doesn’t matter.
