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This in from TSN’s Darren Dreger: “Oilers signing Evander Kane and clearly targeting Jack Campbell amplifies Edmonton’s push to win. They’re not done. Connor Brown? Mason Marchment? One of the Strome brothers? The Oil would like to add and potentially move Puljujarvi and Foegele in the process.”
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And this from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes: “**Breaking News ** I’m told Maple Leafs G Jack Campbell is closing in a potential 5Yr X 5M deal with the @EdmontonOilers, situation remains fluid.”
And from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug: “Still no date set for Kane arbitration hearing with San Jose. 3 possibilities exist 1. Settlement – both sides move on, Oilers new contract intact 2. Kane wins – Oiler deal dissolves, Kane becomes Sharks property, contract fully intact including his no trade stipulations. Kane loses – Oilers contract remains in place, both sides move on.Not sure if this Oilers deal makes a settlement more likely or not, but there’s plenty still to de determined.
And this in from TSN’s Bob Stauffer: “With Evander Kane signing a 4-year deal last night…
IMO here are the EdmontonOilers targeted needs today:
#1. 1A Goaltender
#2. 2nd pairing left D
#3. 4th line C (right shot)
#4. 4th line tough LW
#5. Veteran 7th D
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Have roughly 10-12M to spend.
(Don’t forget RFA’s).”
My take
1. The Oilers have a clear salary structure now, with the Big Three — the three close friends who make up the core of the team, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse — all making the biggest dollars, but a number of other strong NHLers signed to contracts in the $5 million range to support them. This list now includes Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kane. There appears to be extremely high odds that another name will be added today, goalie Jack Campbell. Of course, this list lost a name yesterday with the retirement of $5.5 million man, veteran d-man Duncan Keith (The Oilers also have Tyson Barrie at $4.5 million per year).
2. I’m not sure, after Campbell’s prospective signing, if the Oil can afford any more $5-million men. This presents danger for the team if a young player like Evan Bouchard, Stuart Skinner, Dylan Holloway or Kailer Yamamoto becomes a major star on the team, which is entirely possible. But for now, and quite rightly so, the Oilers are trying to maximize their chances of winning a Stanley Cup in the final years of Leon Draisaitl’s contract, which ends after the the 2024-25 season, and Connor McDavid’s contract, which ends after the 2025-26 season. This is clearly the correct strategy, and Edmonton has done well to limit the annual cap hit of these contracts to strong players like Hyman, RNH and Kane to less than $5 million per year.
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3. The best chance the Oilers have of bringing back Draisaitl and McDavid is to play the “winning with friends” card. Edmonton took the first big step on that plan by signing Nurse to his new eight-year deal at $9.25 million per. But the much harder part comes next: actually winning a Stanley Cup. It’s that kind of success that will keep McDavid, Nurse and Draisaitl together in Edmonton, with RNH, Hyman and Kane now also in for the long haul.
4. Let’s move on now to Kane and his coming arbitration hearing with San Jose. There remain incredibly small odds that a fair arbitrator would send Evander Kane back to San Jose.
The Sharks have arguably already mistreated Kane once, voiding his deal. Why would an arbitrator add to that punishment by giving him back to San Jose?
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If San Jose has any leg to stand on, it must argue it was right to void that deal. It would be a huge joke for them to argue they were right to void the deal, but now want the deal back in place just so they can trade Kane due to his value going up.
To be fair to San Jose, I don’t think they’re asking for that. They’re simply asking for their voiding of the Kane contract to stand.
As for Kane, why would he now want that old San Jose deal to remain in place?
He’s got a new contract. He’s now done everything he can to mitigate the damage done to him by San Jose voiding his contract. He not only signed once in Edmonton, he got the Oilers to agree to him testing the NHL market, to find out his true value, before he re-signed with the Oilers. Essentially, Kane has acted in good faith. And in good faith, it seems to me he’ll now ask the arbitrator to recognize his new deal with the Oilers and to make San Jose compensate him for any damages inflicted by their arguably bad faith voiding of his original deal.
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Make sense? I’m not a lawyer but that’s how I see this playing out.
5. The Oil handled the Kane negotiations perfectly, not offering Kane too much. They also let him test the market a few days early, which gave him necessary information both for signing this new contract with the Oilers and for his arbitration hearing. He can now argue he did all he could to maximize his earnings, and thus mitigate any losses from San Jose’s treatment of him. In the end, it was likely a stretch for Edmonton to go four years with Kane, but this wasn’t the six or seven year contract at $6 or $7 million per year deal that was floated by hockey insiders as Kane’s ask. It’s a much more manageable cap hit.
6. Why did Kane get only $5.1 million per year on his four year deal? This is, after all, a rare player, described as a. hockey unicorn, a super tough and intimidating guy who also has a high amount of skill. As I mentioned in a previous post, I suspect if Kane had no baggage he would get what he was asking, that $7 million over six years, maybe even seven years. But it’s my own belief that some NHL cities have fanbases — mainly in eastern Canada and the big blue cities in the American northeast and on the West Coast — that are too woke to accept a player with Kane’s history. Whether those fanbases are right or wrong, I’ll leave that for you to decide based on your own principles and biases.
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At the Cult of Hockey
McCURDY: What will the Oilers do next? Digging into needs at each position
LEAVINS: Evander Kane signs 11th hour deal to remain an Oiler
STAPLES: Keith retires, Kulak to test the open market
McCURDY: Oilers reach decisions on 7 pending RFA’s
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How fast will Edmonton Oilers add to their list of Five Million Dollar men? Real fast - Edmonton Journal
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