Looking at Buyouts and the Non-Qualified
3 years ago
With plenty of teams around the NHL pinching their pennies, we have seen some players get bought out or not qualified that wouldn’t have under normal circumstances. With so many players hitting the open market, there is a chance for teams to buy-low and find some real bargains.
For an Oilers team that has multiple holes to fill this offseason, the amount of buyouts and non-qualified players is great. The more options there on the market, the better chance there is that the Oilers find a good player for cheap.
Now, for every bargain contract that is signed, there will likely be a team that gives too much money to a veteran player that’s past his prime. It happens every offseason and considering the Oilers cap situation, they can’t afford to waste a contract. Whatever move they make, has to be a good one.
So who are some options that the Oilers could look at? Well, let’s start with the players who were recently bought out.
BUYOUT OPTIONS
There have been a lot of buyouts over the last week, which was predictable when you consider how many teams are tight for not just cap space, but actual money. Among the players who have been bought out recently, are some options that the Oilers could look at to fill their third-line centre vacancy.
@Kyle Turris is going to be a UFA tomorrow and is a player I would expect the Oilers to take a look at considering they could use a right-shot centreman to play on their third line. He fell out of favour in Nashville and was not living up to his $6m cap-hit but his numbers were not terrible. Over three seasons with the Predators, he posted 96 points in 182 games, including 31 points in 65 games this past season. That would have been tied for 5th most among Oilers forwards.
At 31-years-old, there is reason to believe he still has some game left in him. The downside the Turris is that he isn’t great in the faceoff circle (he won 47% of his draws last season) and he was rarely used on the penalty kill. We’ll see if that’s a deal-breaker for the Oilers.
The other interesting option in @Alex Wennberg, who was placed on waivers for the purpose of a buyout earlier today by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s only 26-years-old and would check a lot of boxes for the Oilers. He’s young, he can kill penalties, and he has some offensive upside.
Yes, he’s only scored a combined seven goals in the last two seasons, but his shooting percentages in those years have been 3.1% and 6.9%. He could bounce back and I think Edmonton would be a good spot for him. He does shoot left, which isn’t great, and he’s just average when it comes to faceoffs, but on a cheap deal, I would love to see Wennberg in an Oilers jersey next season.
On the wing, the two names that get talked about a lot are Bobby Ryan and Michael Grabner. I’m not big on the Oilers going after Ryan since he’s a right-winger and that side of their depth chart is pretty full. I would be very interested in Grabner though. He skates well, can kill penalties, and if he’s healthy, I think he could definitely score 10-15 goals in a bottom-six role. That’s a name the Oilers should be looking at.
Justin Abdelkader has been talked about because of his connection to Ken Holland, but I can’t see the Oilers being interested in him unless it’s on a PTO. The Oilers have lots of wingers and Abdelkader doesn’t bring enough offence to be worth using a contract on.
Between the pipes, the Devils bought out Corey Schnieder today as well. Schneider is 34-years-old and has had two straight horrendous seasons. I think the Oilers should look elsewhere. There’s also Henrik Lundqvist but it sounds like he’s going to the Capitals.
That does it for the buyout options. But what about the players who weren’t given qualifying offers? Well, there are plenty of intriguing options there.
THE NON-QUALIFIED
There are a handful of players I think that the Oilers should be interested in. I’ll start with a centreman. Nick Cousins is coming off a season where he posted 25 points in 65 games with the Vegas Golden Knights and Montreal Canadiens, with 20 of those points coming at even strength. He shouldn’t cost too much but the downside here is that he doesn’t kill penalties and he shoots left. The production at even-strength is tempting, but he doesn’t quite check all the boxes for the Oilers. If they move Jujhar Khaira, Cousins would be an upgrade in the bottom six though. I just don’t think he can be the only centre that the Oilers add this offseason.
There are plenty of interesting wingers as well. Anthony Duclair is the most notable name. He scored 23 goals and added 17 assists in 66 games. It was a breakout season for Duclair who was on his fourth team in just three seasons. There have been rumours that the Oilers are interested in swapping a right-winger for a left-winger, but if they could find a taker for someone like Alex Chiasson, maybe they could use some of that money to sign a player like Duclair?
He would be a great fit in the Oilers top-six but I’m not sure if he’s a realistic option. There are going to be plenty of suitors for Duclair and that could drive his price up. He might just end up being too expensive for the Oilers.
Dominik Kahun was not qualified by the Sabres despite the fact he put up 31 points in 56 games (he spent most of the season with the Penguins) with 29 of them coming at even-strength. He’s listed as a centre, but he barely took any faceoffs last season so I would imagine that the Oilers see him as more of a winger. There’s talk that he and Draisaitl are close off the ice, which makes him an even more enticing option. I think Kahun would be a nice fit and he’ll cost less than Duclair.
Dominik Simon and Carter Verhaeghe are two other players that might be worth a look. Neither should cost very much and they both have some upside.
Of course, there is always a chance that the Oilers re-visit two of the RFA’s that they didn’t qualify. I’m not saying it’s likely, but I do think there’s a chance that Ken Holland takes a look at bringing back one of Andreas Athanasiou and Matt Benning.
We know they’re going to be looking to add a couple of defensemen and they would benefit from adding a scoring left-winger to their top-nine. Maybe Athanasiou and Benning will hit the market, field some offers, and realize the Oilers are the best spot for them.
There are plenty of options on the market and plenty of ways for Ken Holland to improve this team in free agency. It all gets going in just hours and it will be fascinating to watch it play out.
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