A number of Edmonton Oilers d-men of struck it rich this year, but only having first departed the Oilers organization.
Three of them, Philip Broberg, Brett Kulak, Vincent Desharnais, recently signed major deals, while Troy Stecher continued his improbable NHL career, inking up for two more years with the Toronto Maple Leafs at $1.35 million a season.
In fact, the top six former Oilers d-men in the NHL, Darnell Nurse, Broberg, Adam Larsson, Cody Ceci, Kulak, and Desharnais will out-earn the top six Edmonton Oilers d-men this year.
Nurse will have $9.25 million cap hit this year in San Jose, while Broberg signed an eight year deal at $8.0 million per in St. Louis.
This July, Kulak signed a four year deal at $4.5 million in Colorado, while Vincent Desharnais signed for four years at $4.2 million in Washington.
Cody Ceci had previously signed a four-year deal at $4.5 million per in Los Angeles, while Adam Larsson had signed a four year deal at $5.25 million per in Seattle.
The combined cap hit for the six former Oilers d-men will be $35.7 million.
As for Edmonton’s current group, the top six earners are Evan Bouchard, $10.5 million, Jake Walman, $7.0 million, Connor Murphy, $4.1 million, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Shea, $4.0 and Shakir Mukhamadullin at $1.75 million.
That’s a total combined cap hit of $31.35 million this year.
oil oilers
As for which Top Six is better, the former Oilers have more aggression in Nurse, Larsson and Desharnais, and they have the two best skaters in Kulak and Broberg.
But the current top six has far superior puck movers in Bouchard, Walman, Ekholm and Shea. It’s also got some bulk and aggression in Murphy and Ekholm.
Edmonton plays a puck possession game, and the current group of d-men is head-and-shoulders above the ex-Oilers grouping in that category. Nurse, Ceci, and Desharnais all demonstrated an inability to make key plays with the puck under playoff pressure.
Kulak and Broberg, though, are most definitely missed by the Oilers. Essentially, it’s up to Walman and Murphy to prove their equal or superior to Kulak and Broberg, something that will largely be dependent on the health and durability of the two Oilers.
As for other former Oilers this year, it was a tough year for some of them, with Ethan Bear, Caleb Jones, Matt Benning, Dmitry Kulikov, William Lagesson, Kevin Gravel, and Jordan Oesterle all either injured or playing mostly in the AHL, save for an odd NHL cup of coffee.
But Alex Petrovic, Jeff Petry and John Klingberg all had OK NHL seasons, considering their age, with Petrovic earning a new two-year deal with a new team, the Florida Panthers.
As for former Oilers outside the NHL, Joel Persson ripped it up with Vaxjo in Sweden and Dmitri Samorukov looked like he moved up the depth chart for CSKA in Moscow. Keegan Lowe’s pro career also continued on, with one more year for Vaxjo. Lowe has fashioned a solid pro career for himself.
Are you one of the Faithful? You can support our work at the Cult of Hockey and the Edmonton Journal. $1 for six months, $20 for one year. Let’s do this!Also for credible and reliable Oilers talk, make the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal your top Google destinationAt the Cult of Hockey
A new trend across the NHL could leave Edmonton Oilers fans caught in the middle: 9 Things
Have the Edmonton Oilers just plucked another ace NHLer away from Kyle Dubas?
‘He just looks tired and dejected’: Toronto commentary about McDavid reaches idiotic heights
No, not Hutson, Dahlin or Hagel. Edmonton Oilers ace has NHL’s best contract this year