Given the makeup of their squad, the Edmonton Oilers have one of the most unusual salary cap outlooks in the NHL. The team’s recent contracts with James Neal, Milan Lucic, Jack Campbell, and other players have been disastrous on several occasions. They have, nevertheless, also had some excellent discounts. When the 2024–25 season begins, which five players have the most favorable contracts for the team?
The remaining term, AAV, clauses, and the player’s position on the team are used to rate the contracts. On the list, players with just one year remaining were not included.
5. Viktor Arvidsson (2 x $4 million AAV)
Viktor Arvidsson was signed by the Oilers to a two-year deal worth $4 million annually (AAV) this offseason. The 31-year-old winger has 25+ goal and a 70+ point upside and was signed for a lower AAV than other free agents like Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Wennberg, and Sean Monahan. Plain and simple, this is a fantastic contract, and fans should be excited to see how Arvidsson performs in the team’s top six this season. If he can stay healthy throughout the contract, he could become one of the most team-friendly bargains in recent NHL history.
4. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (4 x $5.125 million AAV)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has scored 55 goals and 171 points in his past 164 regular season games, in addition to seven goals and 22 points in 25 playoff games with the Oilers last season. He has done all this while providing strong defense at both even strength and on the penalty kill.
For comparison, centers making more annually than Nugent-Hopkins consist of Andrew Copp, Chandler Stephenson, J.T. Compher, Brayden Schenn, and Elias Lindholm. Nugent-Hopkins’ deal is not just a bargain, but his versatility and toolset have given the Oilers more flexibility in the top six. His ability to play both center and wing, dominate special teams, and rack up big minutes have made him an extremely underrated NHL forward, even with his 104-point campaign two seasons ago.
3. Connor McDavid (2 x $12.5 million AAV)
Connor McDavid, despite making $12.5 million AAV, ranks as one of the Oilers’ top contracts. To be quite honest, he could be number one. To sign the far and away best player in the world for anything lower than the maximum contract is immediately a steal, so doing so for $5.1 million AAV below the maximum threshold is astonishing. Of course, the NHL has not reached the point where players are demanding the maximum salary like in the NBA, but McDavid very well could have and countless teams would have met his demands. Of course, he was a restricted free agent, but even if he entered unrestricted free agency this deal would have remained the same.
Currently, McDavid is not even the highest-paid player in the NHL, with both Auston Matthews ($13.25 million AAV) and Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million AAV) sitting atop the leaderboard. No matter how you look at it, McDavid’s $12.5 million AAV salary is an absolute steal and would be ranked higher if not for the Oilers’ multiple additional team-friendly contracts.
2. Stuart Skinner (2 x $2.6 million AAV)
Say what you want about Stuart Skinner, but he has quickly emerged as one of the league’s better-starting goalies. The 25-year-old went 36-16-5 with a 2.62 goals against average (GAA) and .905 save percentage (SV%) last season. In the playoffs, he went 14-9-0 with a 2.45 GAA and .901 SV%.
Of course, these numbers do not stand out, but given Skinner’s disastrous start to the regular season, he came around quite well. He posted two one-goal games and two two-goal games in the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, and the Oilers undoubtedly would not have gone to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final if not for his heroics.
1. Zach Hyman (4 x $5.5 million AAV)
Not much needs to be said about Zach Hyman. The 32-year-old scored 54 goals last season then followed it up with 16 goals in 25 playoff games. He has been the perfect addition to McDavid’s line and has shown no signs of slowing down. Pundits have tried to limit Hyman’s accomplishments, crediting McDavid for his success, and while he has helped, scoring 50 goals is impressive regardless of who your linemates are. The Oilers tried to find the perfect linemate for McDavid for six seasons, and in the 2021 offseason, they found Hyman.
The Oilers have gone from one of the worst salary-constraint teams in the league to one of the best, and the on-ice production proves it. With nearly the entire core of team-friendly or fair deals, it will be interesting to see how the team can rebound from last season’s disappointing finish.
