Woah, woah woah… we’re not even done getting through this current offseason, so why am I writing about the salary cap situation for next summer?

Well, it will be a pivotal point for the franchise. Leon Draisaitl should be signed by then, but they’ll need to think about a long-term deal for Evan Bouchard, and they’re slated to have at least five other free agents.

I say, at least, because they’re likely going to have to head back to the negotiating table with players like Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, assuming they sign one-year bridge deals this summer.

Before we get into the weeds, let’s start with the big guns. A lot of people seem to think that the Oilers won’t have the money to sign both Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard to big-money extensions if they want to keep the rest of their roster competitive.

First off, I’m a big believer in paying your best players whatever it costs to keep them and then going from there. If you have an elite core, as the Oilers do, then it’s more likely that depth pieces will be willing to sign for a little bit less money.

That’s exactly what happened this summer. Both Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique had offers for more money elsewhere, but they took less to stay in Edmonton because it would give them the best chance to win a Stanley Cup next season.

So let’s throw out a few safe projections here to start this exercise: Leon Draisaitl signs an eight-year deal worth $14 million per season and Evan Bouchard signs an eight-year deal worth $10 million per season.

Let’s also assume that the salary cap goes up $5 million, which again, I think is a safe assumption.

With those two signed, and the salary cap set at $93 million, the Oilers will have $7.6 million in cap space with eight forwards, five defensemen, and two goalies under contract.

Let’s throw a few more safe projections out there: Connor Brown sticks around for $1 million and Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg both sign once again for a combined $3.6 million. I’m also going to save that Matt Savoie is ready to be a full-time NHLer by the 2025-26 season and their fourth-line centre will be either Noah Philp or Lane Pederson on a $900k deal.

That would give the Oilers just $1.2 million in space, but this is what their depth chart would look like:

Kane – McDavid – Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins – Draisaitl – Arvidsson
Holloway – Henrique – Savoie
Brown – Philp/Pederson – Janmark

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Broberg
Kulak – Stetcher

Skinner
Pickard

It would be very tight, but they can make it work. They’d have $1.2 million to find either a 13th forward or put a seventh defenseman on the roster. Even then, there’s about $200-400k in wiggle room, so even if my projections are a tad off, they can make it work.

Of course, things rarely ever go to plan. What if they need to clear up some extra cap space in order to go long-term with one of their pending RFAs? Well, there are a couple of ways to do that.

First, they could trade or buy out Evander Kane. A buyout would save the Oilers $2.6m in the first year and only cost them $1.33 million of dead cap space the following season according to PuckPedia.

Kanes no-movement clause does change to a 16-team no-trade list before this coming trade deadline, so getting out from the final year of his deal via trade wouldn’t be impossible.

That is one option to free up some cap space next summer.

Another would be to trade Brett Kulak, who would have one more year on his deal at a $2.75m cap hit. This would make sense because they could slide Philip Broberg to the left side and they do have Max Wanner sitting in Bakersfield and maybe he could be ready by 2025-26 to be an everyday NHLer.

Those are the two simplest ways to create significant cap space. There are more unrealistic ways, like trying to find a new home for Darnell Nurse, but I don’t think it’s realistic to be expecting that.

So what did I learn by doing this exercise? The Oilers shouldn’t be scared to pay both Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl whatever it would take to keep them Oilers for the next eight years. They’re cornerstone pieces and whatever contracts you sign them to should age very well considering how talented they are, their age, and the expectation that the salary cap will only start climbing higher and higher.

Even if the trio of McDavid, Draisaitl and Bouchard ends up costing you close to $40 million in a couple of seasons, they can make things work.