After the contract of Ken Holland expired on June 30 and the Edmonton Oilers announcing the two parties would be parting ways, the search for a new general manager began.
In the interim, President of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson stepped in to cover the position through the NHL Draft and free agent season.
Although he has no intention of being the general manager long term, let’s just say that his performance thus far in the position has left some saying he’s already the best GM the Oilers have had in decades—which is either a testament to his abilities in the position or a statement on how poor the incumbents have been in recent years. You can decide where to go from there.
Regardless, with a clear strategy and bold decisions at the draft, Jackson and his team are already putting a their philosophy on the identity of the organization.
Trading up into the first round to take a prospect they really liked and see as a part of the plan. Focusing on prospects with high levels of compete first and foremost, as was evident in the interview with Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey post-draft. And selecting older draft eligible players in the hopes that they are farther along in development and can make an impact for the organization sooner, while the Stanley Cup window is still open.
Looking into the first couple days of free agency as well, Jackson and Co have done a phenomenal job at bringing in talented players on cheap contracts and retaining other players on team friendly deals.
Let’s take a look at how he has done so far
Oilers 2024 free agency review
Overall, the team has done well to build on and improve the roster for the upcoming season. The key areas in which this has been accomplished are in signing value deals with free agents and retaining current players on good contracts.
The new faces from free agency
The team started off the day with a bang, signing Viktor Arvidsson to a two-year deal with an AAV of $4M.
Arvidsson is a bit of a health risk as he misses lots of time with injuries. But he is a former 30-goal scorer with a career high of 61 points back in his Nashville Predator days.
Thus far in his career, he has not had a chance to play with anyone of Leon Draisaitl’s calibre. The contract for Arvidsson is a safe bet and a cheaper upgrade on Draisaitl’s wing, a shot-first player who is a bit faster than some of his previous options.
Additionally, Jackson added Jeff Skinner, freshly bought out by the Buffalo Sabres, for one year at $3M. Skinner may be a one-dimensional player but a pure shot-first player like him may find a role in the top-six or a great way to increase scoring depth, something Edmonton has struggled with in recent years.
Stockpiling depth defenders for cheap like Josh Brown and Connor Carrick are great, low-risk bets to increase the competition for the bottom defence spots. Cheap deals that can be sent down to the AHL to help the Bakersfield Condors or easily able to slot in the NHL when needed.
The key to Jackson’s stellar performance here is that none of these deals are high risk or expensive. A common flaw in many free agent seasons is overpayment. The Oilers have been susceptible to it in the past but have not done so here.
Retaining pending free agents
This is a combination of solid talent evaluation from the front office and a team environment that players want to be a part of. But the Oilers have managed to retain most of their pending free agents and at extremely team friendly deals.
Connor Brown re-signed for $1M and Mattias Janmark for three years at $1.45M. Meaning the elite penalty kill duo from the post-season is sticking together.
Although his role on the team is diminishing on the ice, they’ve kept Corey Perry around for, again, just $1.45M.
Prized trade deadline acquisition Adam Henrique has taken an extremely team friendly deal to stay with the organization. He signed a two-year deal with an AAV of $3M.
The wizardry this front office is working with the cap right now is huge to building a roster that has the amount of depth it does right now. This may be one of the deepest rosters the Oilers have had in decades, and it is a result of the value deals they’re getting on the free agent market and the efforts spent on retaining the players who fit in the system and want to be an Oiler.
It’s not all positive, however
Jackson and the front office have done a great job. However, there are still some needs that could be better addressed. The most glaring of which is right defence on the second pair.
It became evident in the playoffs that Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci are not the solution moving forward. We saw Philip Broberg step in and fill that role completely fine later in the playoffs, but the pairing was still chaotic.
Broberg can get there to be the second pairing guy, but is it a safe bet to aim for that already?
The team brought in Josh Brown and Carrick, neither of whom are able to fill that role. Retained Troy Stetcher, who is also not that guy. And (so far) have retained Ceci.
The defence is looking largely the same. Although, given the contracts signed by potential targets for that role, it may be that the team was just unable to work it in to the cap situation.
Overall free agency performance grade
A-
The players brought in are cheap but fill specific roles in putting this team over the top. Jackson did not have to overspend to accomplish this. He did not have to mortgage the future to do so.
The team was able to benefit from good vibes and culture in the locker room and sign some players for below marker value as they want to be a part of this organization right now.
And although they may have left one glaring need potentially unfilled, they do have an internal solution for it and the options on the market were too risky for the potential of a massive overpayment. So it makes sense why it was addressed with a collection of depth rather than a single player.
Overall, Jackson has had an excellent start to his time as interim GM and the decisions made by him and the organization are starting to give us fans a bit of confidence in management moving forward.
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