Sunday Scaries: Anti-Vegas Golden Knights, cap space and keeping Connor and Leon

Good afternoon and happy Sunday Oilersnation!

Another week with not too many crazy things going on in the world of the Oilers, but last night the Stanley Cup Finals kicked off with Vegas taking on the Florida Panthers in Vegas and winning by the score of 5-2.

This is less than ideal for me, not because it really affects me in any way, but just because I really do not want to see the golden knights win the Stanley Cup. I guess not only that but Florida’s journey to this Stanley Cup is simply way more exciting than the Golden Knights. As Taylor Swift would say, “it’s been a long time coming” and Vegas just cannot say the same.

The only downside of watching the Panthers win in my opinion is that the Staal brothers who famously refused to wear rainbow jerseys for pride night would end up winning the Stanley Cup during pride month…

Which Reminds me!!!

One more thing regarding the Stanley Cup final, it is very common for the teams that win the first game of the series to go on and win the cup. However the last and only time that Vegas made it to the finals, they won the first game and then ended up losing the series in five, giving the Washington Capitals their first-ever Stanley Cup.

So I’m taking (and really hoping for) Panthers in five.

 

The next topic of discussion is the cap increase.

Again, and as you may have already heard, the salary cap is expected to go up 1 million dollars before next season, which gives the Oilers some wiggle room, but likely not enough.

Essentially, because of covid, NHL players owe their team owners money, and because of this, the big jump we were supposed to see in the salary cap continues to be postponed until that debt is paid.

Luckily, that might end up being at the same time we need to resign Leon Draisaitl, which is why, unlike many, I believe that we will be able to keep Leon and Connor both.  The estimated jump in 2025 when Leon will be looking for a new contract, if it goes up to its projected 87 million, that will give the Oilers plenty of extra cash to push Leon’s way, because I’m sure we can all agree he deserves it.

And before everyone is up in arms about how he doesn’t want to play in Edmonton, I urge you to please stop ignoring every time Connor or himself has said that they want to play and win in Edmonton and don’t plan on leaving.

The Cap is also expected to have a significant rise between needing to re-sign Leon, and when we have to re-sign Connor, which will obviously (hopefully) play in our favour so we can Keep McDrai forever.

Leave your thoughts below, OR reach out to me on Twitter!!!

See you next Sunday!

Or, well guess I don’t see you, but you will see me next Sunday!