Reviewing the previews: How I projected the Edmonton Oilers’ Tyson Barrie, Evander Kane, Zack Kassian and Brett Kulak

It was interesting to see Jason Gregor note in his Monday Musings yesterday that the Oilers might keep Barrie around, should Duncan Keith opt to retire.

I still think moving on from Barrie might be the Oilers’ best course of action, because the team will need to bring back Brett Kulak to play on the left side. Kulak is well-deserving of a Ceci-esque deal.

Barrie is what he is at this point in his career, as I mentioned above, and Evan Bouchard is a guy who is ready to step into the powerplay quarterback role as soon as next year.

I’d be comfortable with Barrie on the third pair, but that’s about it. In terms of a trade, the Oilers would likely be able to get draft picks back. Would a team like Seattle, who has four second-round picks, be willing to give up one?

And that’s part of the reason I’m cool on the Oilers going out of their way to try and re-sign Kane. There’s a better than zero chance that he could be a 40 goal scorer with McDavid over the course of a full season His play style complements McDavid well, too, with an ability to play physical and create space. His strong shot is a great addition to the mix, too. But defensively, there’s not much there to like from Kane’s game.

According to Evolving Hockey’s contract projections, his most likely contract is a seven-year deal paying him a cap hit of $7.474-m. His average contract carries a 4.5-year term and a $6.774-m cap hit.

At 30 years old, those are contracts too rich for my blood. I like the player a lot and I like how he looked alongside McDavid, but that term and money for a player like Kane is one that a team could regret in short order. His physical style of play doesn’t do his body any favours.

A few years ago, the Oilers made a big swing by picking up Milan Lucic in free agency. They signed him to a seven-year contract with an AAV of $6-million. While his first impression was great in Edmonton getting into a fight in his first game and scoring 23 goals and 50 points in 82 games that year, his game fell off a cliff.

Now I’m not going to say Evander Kane is destined for the same fate, but I’d caution any sort of long-term deal — even with the Oilers’ cup window being wide open right now — especially when someone like Claude Giroux could be had for less term and less money.

Once again, the biggest knock here is Kassian’s contract. Even if some of his underlying numbers were “okay,” that’s a lot of money for a player that far down your lineup. With his isolated impacts show average offence and below average defence, the Oilers will still be best moving on from him this offseason.

The Oilers have two routes they could go: first would be a buyout, while the other is a trade. A buyout would provide the Oilers with cap savings of $2.53-million this year and $1.33-million in 2023-24, with penalties of $966k the following two years.

A trade will likely mean the Oilers would have to add sweetener to make it happen, and I wonder if a team would consider one of the AHL prospects the Oilers have on the backend.

I don’t think it can be overstated how important Kulak is going to be for this defence moving forward. He’s likely to slot in on the Oilers’ second pair alongside Evan Bouchard and that’s a pairing that I think could be a force next year.

Bouchard’s game will take a step in the right direction, and Kulak should be a piece that will help in that, too. He can play that defence first game that could allow Bouchard to activate more offensively, while still being able to cover up for some of the youngin’s mistakes.

No matter how you cut it, the four-year, $2.75-million AAV deal the Oilers inked Kulak to is an absolute steal even if he’s an elite third pairing defenceman.