The Edmonton Oilers have one of the most unique salary cap outlooks in the NHL given the team’s roster construction. The team has had multiple disastrous contracts in recent seasons with James Neal, Milan Lucic, Jack Campbell, and others. However, they have also had some great deals. Heading into the 2024-25 season, which five players are on the most team-friendly deals?
Contracts are ranked by the remaining term, AAV, clauses, and the player’s role on the team. Players with only one year left were not considered for the list.
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.
Related: Edmonton Oilers’ 2024-25 Breakout Candidates
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…
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