Offer sheets rock Oilers after smooth start to off-season

The Edmonton Oilers have kept busy this off-season as they work through the disappointment of losing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers.

The team didn’t make wholesale changes to the roster, as they brought back forwards Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark as well as defenceman Troy Stecher on short-term deals. 

They added a pair of veteran wingers in free agency in Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson as the team reloads for another long playoff run next season. 

Skinner, 32, was signed to a one-year, $3 million contract after he was bought out of the final three seasons of his eight-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres. He had 24 goals and 46 points in 74 games last season. Despite skating in 1,006 regular-season games, he has never appeared in an NHL playoff game.

Arvidsson missed most of last season with injuries but managed six goals and 15 points in 18 games. The 31-year-old forward has played previously for the Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings and scored 26 goals in 77 games in 2022-23.

The Oilers didn’t just focus on the short term with their off-season moves. On July 5, they acquired forward Matthew Savoie, the No. 9 pick in the 2022 draft, from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for forwards Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio.

In his final junior season in 2023-24, Savoie scored 30 goals with 71 points in 34 games split between the Wenatchee Wild and Moose Jaw Warriors.

In a smaller deal on July 15, they dealt Xavier Bourgault and Jake Chiasson to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Roby Jarventie and a 2025 fourth-round pick. 

At the draft, the Oilers also traded into the first round and selected forward Sam O’Reilly at No. 32, who had 20 goals and 56 points in 68 games last season with the OHL’s London Knights. 

The team is also looking to take care of another piece of their present and future as star Leon Draisaitl is an unrestricted free agent next summer. Since being drafted third overall by Edmonton in 2014, the 28-year-old forward has appeared in 719 career NHL games, scoring 347 goals with 850 points, winning the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and Art Ross Trophy. 

However, after what had been a smooth start to the off-season, it’s gotten a little bumpier for the Oilers.

This week, the Oilers were dealt a challenge from the St. Louis Blues as the Blues signed Oilers' restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to two-year offer sheets.

The offer to Holloway is for $2.29 million per year, while Broberg’s is for $4.58 million per year.

The Oilers are in a cap crunch at $357,167 over the salary cap with more than $3 million in dead money. If the team is going to keep both players, they will need to shed more than $7 million in cap space. 

Both players are coming off their entry-level contracts and looking to secure full-time roles in the NHL next season after they spent the 2023-24 season between the NHL and AHL.