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Could Oilers Smith and Sheahan Get Shafted in Contract Offers?

The Edmonton Oilers will have some tricky decisions to make when it comes to contracts, specifically for Mike Smith and Riley Sheahan.

Allan Mitchell of The Athletic recently took a look at some tough decisions facing the Edmonton Oilers when it comes to contracts and a flat salary cap for next season. Like many teams, the Oilers may be forced to make cuts or let people walk when the season closes. Specifically, Edmonton could lose two unrestricted free agents who were useful depth players for the organization this past season and couple of players who might contribute in the play-in round and playoffs should the Oilers move forward.

Mitchell writes (subscription required):

For Oilers general manager Ken Holland, this is going to be a difficult offseason. Useful veterans who are free agents, such as goalie Mike Smith and checking centre Riley Sheahan, might find Edmonton’s cap-conscious offers unacceptable.

Essentially, because the Oilers have contracts for Smith, Sheahan, Andreas Athanasiou, Matt Benning, Ethan Bear, Mike Green, Tyler Ennis, and Patrick Russell to sign if they want to try and bring everyone back, Smith and Sheahan could get shafted when it comes to their contract offers because there’s not a lot of money leftover to keep them. To a lesser extent, Green is in the same boat but there’s a question about whether or not the Oilers are interested in bringing him back at anything but a massive discount.

With around $9.5 million in cap space, it’s possible that just Bear, Smith and Athanasiou eat up all of what’s available.

Mitchell notes that RFAs like Athanasiou and Benning have some leverage in their contract negotiations. And, unless the Oilers are willing to let them walk and lose the assets they spent to acquire them or the time invested in their development, they’ll be sticking around.

So too, because the Oilers need to be cautious of how much money they spend this offseason — next offseason money needs to be saved for the contracts of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Larsson — there’s a self-imposed upper-limit the Oilers can’t pass when it comes to Smith and Sheahan deals.

Are There Other Options To Free Up Money?

Mitchell does suggest the Oilers have other ways to approach their contract situation without low-balling Smith or Sheahan in the process. That would be to move a more expensive contract first to see what can be freed up.

The names that seem most likely are Kris Russell, James Neal, and Alex Chiasson.

Thanks to a signing bonus, the cap hit for Russell’s final year is $4 million, but in actual salary dollars, the final year is $1.5 million.  That makes him tradeable.

For James Neal, a buyout is not pretty, but possible. Essentially what the Oilers would be doing is placing less pressure on their cap in a time where the cap is going to be low, but spreading out his cap burden and repositioning their need to pay him at a time when the cap has gone back up. Still, paying him until 2026 is not ideal.

Chiasson makes $2.15 million deal which isn’t a lot, but he’s also a luxury on this roster. Perhaps the Oilers can save $1 million in cap with a trade.

Needless to say, every team will have questions like these. No franchise will escape this dropping salary cap without some casualties. The question is, how well can the Oilers navigate their ability to make moves and take advantage of other teams issues — many of which are more troubling than their own.

Related: NHL and NHLPA Finalize Tentative Agreement on RTP Phase 3/4 Protocols

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