On The Current Roster and Things to Come

This past weekend Steve Tambellini kicked off the second phase of the rebuild of the Edmonton Oilers. After blowing up the old roster, Oilers management made a commitment to rebuilding this franchise with an emphasis on the draft. But now after stockpiling a number of solid prospects who are beginning to show a great deal of promise, Tambellini has begun addressing team deficiencies by acquiring established NHL talent via trade and free agency.

With a young team short on leadership, Tambellini made a trade to bring back Ryan Smyth. With a group of centers having difficulty winning faceoffs, Tambellini signed Eric Belanger. With a roster lacking size and toughness, Tambellini signed Ben Eager and Darcy Hordichuk and traded for Andy Sutton. With a blue line looking for more help, Tambellini took a chance and signed a former 3rd overall pick in Cam Barker. Based on the flurry of activity over the weekend, it's clear that Oilers management is no longer satisfied with letting a young team sort things out themselves while remaining in lottery contention. The acquisition of a number of players specifically to address team shortcomings means that winning is now on management's mind.

Looking at the players currently under contract, the 23 man roster is starting to take shape. With today's signing of Theo Peckham to a 1 year extension, the Oilers now have 7 NHL-capable defensemen and the blue line may be set for the upcoming season:

Whitney, Gilbert, Smid, Barker, Sutton, Peckham, and Petry.

At forward the Oilers have a long list of players under contract and there will definitely be stiff competition at training camp for spots. These are the forwards who appeared in the NHL last season:

Smyth, Horcoff, Hemsky, Hall, Gagner, Brule, Belanger, Paajarvi, Jones, Eberle, Eager, Omark, Hartikainen, and Hordichuk.

With 14 forwards under contract, along with 7 defenseman, and a goaltending tandem of Khabibulin and Dubnyk, the Oilers would already be at the 23 man roster limit if the NHL season started tomorrow. In addition to this group, Cogliano is still yet to re-sign and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could very well make the roster out of camp. So clearly something has to give. From this list of players, Omark, Hartikainen, and Petry are still waiver exempt, meaning they would not be required to clear waivers for assignment to the AHL, which gives Tambellini some added flexibility. However, Omark has an out-clause in his contract that allows him to return to Europe this season if he so chooses. Omark was clearly unhappy last year when he was cut at training camp and may choose to head back to the KHL if he isn't playing for the Oilers in the NHL this October.

With the signing of Eric Belanger to a three year deal and the selection of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers are now a bit crowded down the middle. The most likely scenario would be for Tambellini to move a center for another NHL-ready defenseman. Trade candidates at this point probably include Andrew Cogliano, as he is yet to sign a new deal, and Gilbert Brule since he was already almost traded once this summer. However Brule is unlikely to yield a significant return in a trade based on his injury concerns, which turns the focus back to Cogliano, although Sam Gagner might also be available if the return is significant enough.

The current Oilers blue line is still a work in progress and hasn't gotten help as quickly as the forwards have. There are a number of promising blue line prospects in the system, including Martin Marincin, Colten Teubert, and now Oscar Klefbom, but they are all likely still a ways away from making an impact in the NHL. While the addition of Andy Sutton adds significant size and physicality, the addition of Cam Barker is still a question mark. Will the Oilers be getting the Cam Barker that scored 40 points in 68 games in 2008-2009 or will they be getting the Cam Barker that regressed and struggled these past 2 seasons? For the Oilers to start moving up in the standings they'll need to continue to improve their defense, and if the right deal comes along Tambellini likely won't hesitate to make it. If the Oilers are trying to model themselves after the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, they have their Kane and Toews in Hall and Nugent-Hopkins, but now it's time to find their Keith and Seabrook.

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On Free Agency and What to Do With All That Cap Space

According to CapGeek the Edmonton Oilers currently have just over 37M committed to 14 players for the 2011-2012 season, not including Sheldon Souray. That gives them with more than 22M in salary cap to sign another 9 players to fill the 23 man roster. However if one assumes that Linus Omark, Teemu Hartikainen, and Jeff Petry will all be on the starting roster next season, their salaries combined will take up another 2.6M, leaving management with over 19M to sign an addition 6 players. It should be noted though that these numbers are based on the current NHL salary cap of 59.4M, and that limit is expected to rise again this summer to as high as 63M for next season, therefore the Oilers will actually have a bit more money to play with. So with all this salary flexibility, how should Steve Tambellini be spending his money this summer?

There are a number of restricted free agents that the Oilers will need to make decisions on, including Andrew Cogliano, Zack Stortini, JF Jacques, Ladislav Smid, Theo Peckham, Taylor Chorney, and Ryan O'Marra. From this group I would expect management to try and re-sign Cogliano, Smid, and Peckham at the least. With Zack Stortini being placed on waivers earlier this season, the coaching staff's opinion on him was made pretty clear and despite being a fan favorite in OIL country, it's probably unlikely that he'll be back for next season. While JF Jacques is one of the few big bodies on the Oilers roster, he often struggled to be a big presence on the ice in the 51 games he played this season and I wouldn't be surprised if they decide against bringing him back as well. With Taylor Chorney, the future is not so clear. After making his debut in 2008, he has appeared in only 56 games in the NHL, with the majority coming in 2009-2010 due to mass injury, scoring a mere 1-6-7 and posting a combined -30. Chorney has already been passed on the depth chart by Peckham and Petry, both of whom were drafted after him, and will now face even more competition to move up with the arrival of Colten Teubert and Martin Marincin.  It will be interesting to see which way the Oilers decide to go with him. As for O'Marra, since being acquired in the Ryan Smyth deal he has only appeared in 24 games at the NHL level and like Jacques, may be on his way out. While the Oilers certainly do need a center who can kill penalties and win faceoffs like O'Marra has done in the AHL, they are probably more likely to find an NHL-capable one in Anton Lander when he comes over to North America this summer.

On the unrestricted free agent front, the Oilers have already taken care of their most notable one when they re-signed Ryan Jones. The remaining players on the team UFA list includes Steve MacIntyre, Jim Vandermeer, and Jason Strudwick. I would expect MacIntyre to be back since Renney likes to keep the tough guys on his roster and SMac is still one of the toughest in the league. I wouldn't mind Vandermeer being brought back as a depth defenceman, unless there is success in signing other options on the open market (see below). Finally, as good a presence as he is in the locker room, I'm not sure if Strudwick will still have a place on this roster come September. I'd like to see the Oilers keep him around in some capacity if he doesn't catch on with another team, since he's a good pro and connects so well with the younger players.

When scanning the league UFA list it really is slim pickings this summer, as after Brad Richards there is a significant drop off in the talent available this summer. Of course while the Oilers are currently in no position to be chasing big ticket players the likes of Richards, there are a few I would hope Tambellini contacts come July 1st. Faceoffs and the penalty kill were two of the Oilers biggest problems this past season and 2 players that could help in that area are Brooks Laich and Marty Reasoner. Both players are sound defensively, can win over 50% of their faceoffs, chip in on offense, and would provide a strong leadership presence on a young roster. Signing either one of them would be an immediate boost to the roster for next season. Of course, there are likely to be multiple teams bidding for the services of Laich should he hit the open market, so the Oilers might get priced out with him. Also, after playing for the Capitals he may not be all that interested in joining a rebuild. The Oilers may have a better chance with Reasoner, that is if he's interested in a third go around with the team. On the blueline, Jan Hejda could be a solid addition as a physical shutdown man, since the Oilers are a bit heavy on puck movers now with Whitney, Gilbert, Foster, and Petry in the mix. He would likely come at a reasonable price as well. Signing him could also right the wrong the Oilers made when they let him walk away as a free agent four seasons ago. We are all aware of the difficulty Edmonton has had in the past in attracting free agents in the summer, although with the direction the team is heading in, it may now be a more attractive option. However while there is help available on the open market, I would rather see Tambellini stand pat and fill holes from within the system than get into bidding wars on free agents. Cap space is going to be an important asset in the coming years with Hemsky and Gagner set to hit free agency next summer, and Hall, Eberle, and Paajarvi the year after that. Despite Katz's deep pockets and willingness to spend to the cap ceiling, Tambellini and co. will certainly need to spend wisely this offseason.

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