Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final was the most heartbreaking deja vu for the Edmonton Oilers as they fell to the Florida Panthers for a second straight year. Now, GM Stan Bowman must go back to the drawing board and figure out what tweaks the roster needs in order to make the most of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their prime.
McDavid is eligible for a contract extension starting July 1, but there will be tremendous pressure to get a deal done with the generational talent and take advantage of this window of opportunity as he enters the final year of his current contract.
Edmonton has under $12 million in cap space to work with, front-loaded by the massive salaries of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Darnell Nurse. Some major changes will need to take place to bring the team beyond the brink of winning this time next year.
Move away from unfavorable contracts
With the way he played in the Final, Evander Kane did not make a strong case for himself to remain a part of Edmonton's push for the Cup. He took undisciplined penalties at every turn, even getting a late-game ejection in Game 6 for carelessly slashing Matthew Tkachuk. He scored just one goal in the series, and didn't even register a shot in two games.
Kane is making $5.125 million going into the final year of his contract, and he could be a difficult player to try to move. He has a modified no-trade clause, meaning he would have to provide a list of 16 teams he'd be willing to go to. Elliotte Friedman did indicate at the Trade Deadline that at least one team was interested in him at that time.
Could it be worth buying out the final year of Kane's contract? Oilers analyst Jim Matheson suggested that could be a possibility, and it would solve the problem of needing more wiggle room this offseason. According to PuckPedia, the buyout cost would only be $1.33 million for the next two seasons.
On defense, Mattias Ekholm is a major part of the gameplan, but he is entering the last year of his contract making $6 million. Between his injuries and missteps especially in the Final, now would be the time to move him to free up space and get another top- or second-pairing D-man.
On the free agent market, the best value defenseman around would be Dante Fabbro. The 26-year-old stepped up into a first-pairing role with the Blue Jackets this year, producing 26 points in 62 games. That's just slightly less than Ekholm's 33 points in 65 games.
Fabbro is only expected to earn around $4 million annually on his next deal. He is an underrated blueliner that can put his body on the line blocking shots and even recorded 113 hits during the 2023-24 season, so the physicality is there and his puck movement continues to improve.
It's worth seriously considering moving these two contracts in order to find an upgrade that won't break the bank, and there are some worthy depth scoring options to explore.