NHL Notebook: Edmonton Oilers free agent signing grades, top free agents left, and recapping some signings

Matt Larkin, Daily Faceoff – Winners

The Connor Brown contract is a stroke of genius. He slides into what should be a vital role for the Oilers at the barely there cap hit of $775,000, with potential for performance bonuses pushing it up to a $4 million value that would carry into next season. Brown’s lengthy LTIR stay this past season in Washington due to a season-ending knee injury made him eligible for the bonus structure despite the fact he’s only 29. He averages 16 goals and 40 points per 82 games in his career and has a history of tremendous chemistry with Connor McDavid. The pair lit it up together with the OHL’s Erie Otters. Brown is a lovely fit to play the right wing on one of Edmonton’s top two lines, and he’s a renowned shorthanded scoring threat to boot.

Eric Duhatschek, The Athletic

So Connor Brown to Edmonton. A surprise to no one. The junior hockey connection (OHL Erie) to Connor McDavid, where he led the league in assists (83) and points (128) in his final year before turning pro with Toronto. Just 29. A player that missed all but four games with Washington last year before a season-ending knee injury. Someone that needed the right fit in order to get his career back on track. Not every move made today is going to make sense, but this does. This was the logical outcome.

Edmonton opened up a spot in its top six by trading Kailer Yamamoto to Detroit. Now, they have that player. If they run two loaded lines, they can mix and match among McDavid, Brown, Zach Hyman plus Evander Kane, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Re-signing Mattias Janmark on the cheap for $1 million gets one bottom-six piece in place and Dylan Holloway almost certainly becomes an NHL regular after dividing time between the Oilers and Bakersfield last year.

The Oilers were tight against the cap, so getting him signed for the minimum — $775,000 — with the rest of the compensation as bonus money is a shrewd bit of work because you can kick the bonuses down the road, when the cap goes up year after year. It may ultimately be the smartest bit of business conducted today.

Contract grade: A
Fit grade: A

Sean Gentille, The Athletic

Connor Brown and the Oilers might have just agreed on the most interesting deal of the day.

Brown will only cost $775,000 at his base, with a bunch of incentives that could drive his number up to $4 million. He brings 20-goal capabilities to the Oilers — maybe more, if he reunites with his old teammate Connor McDavid — at an absolute bargain-basement price. Brown had a 128-point OHL season with McDavid as his center. You’re going to hear about that experience quite a bit.

This is happening because Brown, 29, tore his ACL with the Caps last season. He gets a chance to rehab his value in a perfect situation, and the Oilers get a good player at a really good price. Brown’s brains and play-driving skills would fit with the Oilers’ big boys. If the goals aren’t coming, he does enough other things to be a legit contributor down the lineup, which is always a potential spot of need for the Oilers.

But the plan, clearly, is for him to slide into the top six — where Edmonton had an open spot or two — and produce. Not a bad bet. He’s done it before, with and without McDavid, and the price couldn’t be better. If he hits the incentives, it’ll be a good sign for the Oilers.

Contract grade: A
Fit grade: A+

Contract grade: A
Fit grade: A+

PRESENTED BY BETWAY

Detroit originally selected Bertuzzi, the nephew of former NHL star Todd Bertuzzi, in the second round (No. 58 overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

The six-foot-one left wing made his NHL debut with the Red Wings in the 2016–17 season and established himself as a full-timer with the club two years later, scoring 21 goals and 47 points in 2018–19.

Bertuzzi reached the 30-goal plateau and scored 62 points in just 68 games with the Red Wings in the 2021–22 season, during which he missed numerous games due to his unvaccinated status.

With the Bruins, Bertuzzi made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut and emerged as a difference-maker, although the Bruins blew a 3–1 series lead and ultimately lost to the Florida Panthers in the first round.

Oesterle, 31, collected two goals and 11 points while averaging 15:39 in 52 games with the Detroit Red Wings during the 2022–23 regular season.

The Red Wings had previously signed Oesterle to a two-year, $1.35 million AAV contract back in 2021. Oesterle’s new one-way deal with the Flames carries a $925,000 cap hit.

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Oesterle spent parts of three seasons with the Oilers before signing with the Chicago Blackhawks as a Group 6 unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2017.

After just one year in Chicago, Oesterle was traded to the Arizona Coyotes as part of a seven-player deal. Arizona received Oesterle, Vinnie Hinostroza, Marian Hossa’s contract, and a 2019 third-round pick in exchange for Marcus Kruger, Mackenzie Entwistle, Jordan Maletta, Andrew Campbell, and a 2019 fifth-round pick.

Oesterle spent three seasons in Arizona, firmly establishing himself as an everyday NHL player and helping the Coyotes qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020. He signed with the Red Wings in 2021 as a UFA from the Coyotes.

Through 349 career NHL games over parts of nine seasons with the Oilers, Blackhawks, Coyotes, and Red Wings, Oesterle has collected 19 goals and 84 points. He’s added a goal and four points in nine career playoff contests with Arizona.

Gostisbehere, 30, was an unrestricted free agent after finishing a six-year contract with a $4.5 million contract, a deal he originally signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. He ends up seeing a decrease in salary of $375,000, and with it being only his third contract, it will be his lowest non-ELC cap hit. His closest cap hit comparable on the blue line is Mikey Anderson, who also has a $4.125 million AAV.

Gostisbehere had a bit of a rejuvenated career since joining the Arizona Coyotes in 2021, with 14 goals, 37 assists, and 51 points in 82 games in 2021-22, and 13 goals, 28 assists, and 41 points in 75 games this past season with both the Coyotes and Carolina Hurricanes, along with three assists in 15 playoff games as the Canes were swept in the Eastern Conference Final by the Florida Panthers.

Gostisbehere was a third round pick of the Flyers in the 2012 draft, and spent the first seven seasons of his NHL career in Philadelphia. He was dealt to the Coyotes in 2021 as a cap dump, and then joined the Canes at the 2023 trade deadline as a rental.

Fischer was an unrestricted free agent after he didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Coyotes at the conclusion of his one-year, $1,125,875 contract.

The Kennebunkport, Maine product added an assist in seven games as the Bruins fell to the Florida Panthers in surprise fashion in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Hathaway’s new contract with the Flyers carries an annual cap hit of $2.375 million, representing a modest pay raise from the $1.5 million he made per year on his previous deal with the Capitals.

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Through 457 games over parts of eight NHL seasons spent with the Flames, Capitals, and Bruins, Hathaway has collected 58 goals and 122 points. He’s added three goals and six points in 31 career playoff contests split between the three teams.

Hathaway will now compete for playing time under John Tortorella on a Flyers team that also features Travis Konecny, Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton, Nicolas Deslauriers, Owen Tippett, Ryan Poehling, Noah Cates, and Morgan Frost at the forward position.

Johnson won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Avalanche in 2022. He subsequently signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks but appeared in just 58 games with the team before being sent back to the Avs ahead of the trade deadline in exchange for Andreas Englund.

The Carolina Hurricanes originally selected Johnson in the first round (No. 3 overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft. The Indianapolis product never played for the Hurricanes before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings alongside Oleg Tverdovsky in 2006 in exchange for Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason.

Johnson spent parts of six seasons with the Kings before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012 as part of a deal that sent Jeff Carter the other way. While Carter won two Stanley Cups in L.A., Johnson spent seven seasons with the Blue Jackets and continued to ply his trade as a top-four NHL defenseman.

From there, Johnson made brief stops with the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers before joining the Avalanche in 2021. He appeared in 13 games with the Avalanche during their run to the Stanley Cup in the 2022 playoffs.

The Panthers announced they had signed Evan Rodrigues forward to a four-year deal worth $3 million per season. It’s the biggest contract they’ve signed so far this offseason, edging out Niko Mikkola’s $2.5 million cap hit for the next three years.

Rodrigues, 29, was a late-summer signing by the Colorado Avalanche last year, scoring 16 goals and 39 points for the second-best numbers of his career. The Etobicoke, Ontario native had 19 goals and 43 points with the Penguins two years ago, the best season of his career. He has had five points in each of his last two playoff runs, with both teams getting knocked out in seven games.

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The Panthers have $362,499 in projected cap space, with Aaron Ekblad and his $7.5 million cap hit not expected to start the season on time due to injuries.