With Duncan Keith retiring on Friday, rumors began to swirl that the Oilers would try to keep Barrie on the backend. What would that look like? Well, Barrie will likely remain on the Oilers’ third pairing and top powerplay unit. His value comes from his ability to move the puck on the 5×5 and the quarterback on the powerplay. Advertisement – Continue Reading Below There’s no doubting the offensive upside he brings to the table, but his defensive game is non-existent on the best of days. No knocks against him, it’s just the way it is and it’s an area he’s always struggled with. So if the Oilers bring him back, as well as Brett Kulak, the depth chart looks like this: Nurse – Ceci Kulak – Bouchard Advertisement – Continue Reading Below Broberg–Barrie The first two pairs seem very strong, but the third pair is what worries me. The Oilers would be asking a lot of Broberg, who will play his first serious NHL minutes next year, to pair with a backcourt that struggles defensively. To me, it’s a situation where both players are set up to fail. Barrie has two years left on his deal, paying him an AAV of $4.5M — not a terrible contract by any means, but it’s a lot of money for a one-dimensional 5×5 player who keeps Bouchard from meaningful PP1 minutes. That’s why I think the team should still look to move Barry. The Oilers could instead opt to go the free agent route to find a replacement for Barrie. Names like Jan Rutta, Ilya Lyubushkin, Matt Benning or Nikita Zadorov make sense. Here are their most likely contract projections, c/o Evolving Hockey: Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Rutta – three years, $2.412 million cap hit. Lyubushkin – one year, $836,700 Benning – one year. $792,000. Zadorov – five years, $4,255 million
Outside of projections alone, I’d target any of the top three, avoiding Zadorov at all costs based on that price alone. Edmonton could use that additional cap space to draft a serious offer for someone like Claude Giroux, who on a three-year deal projects a cap hit of $6.466 million. All the while, Edmonton could add a solid defenseman on the cheap to pair with Bromberg. Zach Laing is news director and senior columnist for the Nation Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @zjlaingor contact by email at [email protected] NATION VACATION is presented by PointsBet Canada. Come hang out with us on our 1st Summer Vacation in Toronto! For only $1399 + tax, you’ll have everything included in the graphics and memories to last a lifetime. Get your tickets here.
