‘Everyone wants to be there’: Hockey world picks Edmonton Oilers as a ‘winner’ of NHL free agency

Article content

Edmonton’s CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson is the toast of Edmonton Oilers fans for his work as interim GM on July 1, but he’s also earned praise from around the National Hockey League.

At least with publications that waited until later in the day on July 1 (the Oilers signed up Jeff Skinner, Mattias Janmark and Adam Henrique later in the day) to announce winners and losers of the first day of free agency, the Oilers have been consistently listed as a winner.

Article content

Here are some of the highlights:

NHL commentator John Shannon on Oilers Now:
It’s hard to think that the Edmonton Oilers are going to get fast but they’re going to get faster… Everything that happened was at a level of quality that just makes a ton of sense… Keeping everybody together as much as they did was probably the biggest surprise.

Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, commentator and Oilers alumni Ryan Whitney:
Arvidsson’s always been an in-your-face-waterbug that can score. I love that signing… Connor Brown had a bad regular season he was f*cking awesome in the playoffs. Why wouldn’t that continue? He’s not a new guy on the team. He’s comfortable there, I love that…. Skinner and Arvidsson, while being an undersized dude, they’re going to play with when you play with Leon and Connor. Dude, it is a different ball game… Jeff Skinner is going to go from most games played without a
playoff game directly to a Stanley Cup…
I am actually over the moon right now. I that this was an awesome day coming off a a tough Game 7 loss. Everyone wants to be there. Nobody wants to go anywhere. They want be a part of the greatest comeback story, the way the Panthers did it, lose in the finals and go get it done

Article content

Article content

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn ranked Arvidsson as one of the best contracts of the day, along with Sam Reinhart, Jake Guentzel, Matt Duchene, Sean Walker and Anthony Duclair:
In terms of fit and price, there were few deals today better than Viktor Arvidsson to the Oilers. One of the key missing pieces from Edmonton’s playoff run was a legitimate top-six forward to play with Leon Draisaitl, one who can drive play at five-on-five. Arvidsson is exactly that, a shoot-first winger who doesn’t need power-play time to deliver above-average value.
The fit alone is great, but it helps that the price and term are both reasonable, too. A $4 million cap hit comes in below his fair value and two years is perfect given the team’s other contract considerations coming up. Arvidsson comes with some injury risk, but he’s worth the reward.

USA TODAY hockey writer Mike Brehm had the Oilers as one of his winners:
The Oilers’ effective third line was up for free agency and the team got Adam Henrique (two years, $6 million), Mattias Janmark (three years, $4.35 million) and Connor Brown (one year, $1 million) re-signed for an inexpensive price. They did lose Warren Foegele but added secondary scoring with Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner.

Article content

The Athletic’s Thomas Drance @ThomasDrance
The Edmonton Oilers forward group is shaping up to be nasty. After Edmonton’s moves today, the “to win Stanley Cup” futures market has adjusted to price them as the favourite at +850. And that’s dead right.

The Score’s hockey writer Josh Wegman:
In Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Leon Draisaitl found himself centering the second line between Dylan Holloway and Warren Foegele – far from ideal top-six winger options (Evander Kane was notably out of the lineup due to injury).
The Oilers now have an embarrassment of riches in forward depth after signing Viktor Arvidsson (two years, $4M AAV) and Jeff Skinner (one year, $3M AAV) to ultra-team-friendly, low-risk deals.
Skinner, 32, has six 30-goal seasons under his belt. He’s still a legitimate top-six winger, even if he comes with some defensive deficiencies.
Arvidsson, 31, missed most of 2023-24 while recovering from offseason back surgery but didn’t miss a beat upon his return, tallying 15 points in 18 games. He’s a speedy, pesky winger with a pair of 30-goal seasons on his resume. He’s a close friend of Mattias Ekholm, too.
The Oilers didn’t have much to spend this offseason, but they undoubtedly got substantially better and didn’t mortgage the future to do so.

Article content

Former NHL player and Live-in-Five podcaster Jordan Schmaltz:
I think the Oilers did a sneaky bit of business yesterday acquiring the 32 year old former Buffalo Sabre who grew up figure skating on the frozen ponds of southern Ontario. Jeff Skinner, in a complimentary role, he still has a lot to give. Middle 6 + PP2 that can add scoring all while playing with a chip on his shoulder after being bought out. If he can give Edmonton 20-25 odd tucks this is a helluva pick up. One of those guys that truly loves the game – you can’t teach passion folks.

My take

1. I suspect the Oilers would have been on every single list if more writers had waited until the end of July 1 to make their picks, but many shut it down around 5 p.m. Eastern time.

2. I’ll  also suggest that much of what Edmonton did was subtle. They did not bring in super big names like Nashville paying big dollars for Steve Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault or Boston signing up Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov. Instead, Edmonton brought in and retained a host of good players on excellent value contracts. Almost every signing could have got more dollars and/or more term in another city, but they took the Stanley Cup Discount to sign in Edmonton and have a chance of winning hockey’s most prestigious club team trophy. Each of Arvidsson, Skinner, Henrique, Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark look like they could have signed for more in other cities, but they chose Edmonton to pursue their Stanley Cup dreams.

Article content

At the Cult of Hockey

STAPLES: Cody Ceci or Ryan McLeod on way out for Edmonton Oilers? NHL insider digs into Oil’s free agent haul

STAPLES: ‘Jeff Jackson is on absolute fire’: Edmonton Oilers fans thrilled with July 1 signings

McCURDY: Oilers sign Henrique

McCURDY: Top 6 RW Viktor Arvidsson signs on with Edmonton

McCURDY: Veteran sniper Jeff Skinner signs one-year pact with Oilers

LEAVINS: Oilers bring back super-pest Corey Perry for one more year

STAPLES: Oilers add big RHD Josh Brown to replace departing Desharnais

LEAVINS: Connor Brown signs new one-year deal

STAPLES: Oilers re-sign pivot prospect Noah Philp after a year away from the game

Article content