The chaos from the NHL draft and free agency has calmed down, and we’re all settling into off-season mode. That’s given me time to think about what’s to come for our beloved Edmonton Oilers, and now I’ve got a bunch of random thoughts rolling around in my head that need some help with sorting. That’s where you come in.

According to the folks at PuckPedia, the Oilers are currently $354K above the salary cap and still need contracts for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. Admittedly, I’m no math guy, but I can tell you that this situation is a problem. It’s not a massive problem, but it’s still a problem, and I want to know the plan to solve it. For a lot of us, I think the assumption is that the Oilers will waive players like Derek Ryan, Josh Brown, etc., until they get under the $88.3 million cap, but is that really the plan? The good news is that I truly believe that Jeff Jackson is thinking further ahead on this than my pea brain will allow.

Speaking of Jeff Jackson, I want to know who the realistic candidates are to become the Oilers’ next GM if he’s not the one to do the job. So far, we’ve only heard Stan Bowman’s name floating around as a potential candidate — not a great candidate either, IMO — but we haven’t heard much about who could be out there. From what I remember, there were way more names tossed around before Ken Holland came to town, and I almost find it strange that we haven’t heard about so-and-so from whatever team being the next up-and-comer for NHL management. Is that by design? Is Jeff Jackson going to stay in the chair longer than expected? Why so quiet on the general manager front? It can’t just be me who hasn’t heard much about this, can it?

When Frank Seravalli appeared on Oilersnation Everyday from the NHL Draft, he speculated that it’s more likely that Evander Kane will be back with the Oilers than moved somewhere else. From my side of the computer screen, I think having Kane back is good news for Edmonton, provided that he can get himself healthy. Whether it was his arm getting stepped on, rib issues, hip problems, or the sports hernia he battled during the playoffs, there weren’t many times when EK91 was actually playing near 100%, and I wonder how much those injuries impacted his one-ice results. Even though there’s no way for us to be sure how hurt he was or how badly those bumps and bruises affected him, maybe having a season where he’s able to get healthy — LTIR SOMEONE SO WE CAN CHEAT! — is precisely what he needs to get back to being a premiere power forward? Is that wishful thinking on my part?

Are we actually going to see a Cody Ceci trade this summer? It seems like every time we think he may be on the move, the Oilers bring him back for another tour of duty as the team’s 2RD. The bad news with that plan was that the results were incredibly mixed in a position where the team needed consistent execution, and I think that meant Ceci had to fight above his weight class. But at $3.25 million on a team as cap strapped as the Oilers are, I think it’s fair to wonder whether the Oilers could have gotten more from someone else in that spot. Of course, that’s easy for me to say from a desk at Nation HQ, but I do wonder if there are folks in Oilers management who see things the same way. Do they believe they could trade Ceci and use that space and money more effectively? Will they even be willing to pull the trigger on a Ceci deal knowing how popular he is in the room? Only time will answer this question, but I do wonder if the clock is winding down on his time as an Oiler because it certainly feels that way.

Even though there were plenty of times when he frustrated me with perimeter play and his refusal to shoot the puck, I will miss Ryan McLeod. The kid is a human breakout, and while I was certainly happy with the trade and what Matthew Savoie could bring to the table, I think the Oilers will miss his speed in the bottom six. I think we’ll miss the way he was able to carry the puck out of the defensive zone when/if the breakout was falling apart, and even though I genuinely believe the team is stronger as a whole than it was a year ago, I also think that we’re a slower team without McLeod in the mix. Now, will the Oilers regret their decision to move on when you’ve got a prospect the calibre of Matt Savoie? Probably not, but I also think Ryan McLeod was a player who contributed more positives than negatives in his time here.

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