Oilers news!!
The Edmonton Oilers and centre Ryan McLeod have come to an agreement on a two year deal, avoiding arbitration. The deal is worth 2.1 million dollars per season and McLeod will remain an RFA after the deal expires.
This was the best case scenario for the Oilers. After recent comparables were signed, McLeod was going to get something in the 2-2.3 million dollar range. A 2.1 million dollar AAV is what the 23 year old centre should be making. McLeod is developing into an excellent two way forward. He kills penalties, does an excellent job at suppressing elite competition and their chances and is still a good playmaker. The one thing McLeod doesn't do enough is shoot the puck or score but there is still plenty of time to add that to his repertoire.
McLeod has the tools to be a regular 30-40 point player who scores at even strength away from the top 6. He is a valuable piece not just to the existing roster but the long term fortunes of this team.
Now the Oilers move on to Bouchard, knowing how much McLeod's contract is. The Oilers currently have just over 3.4 million in cap space (via CapFriendly). That is with Pedersen and Holloway on the roster as well as Broberg and Desharnais. The likely scenario seems to be that the Oilers will sign Bouchard to a one or two year deal at 3.4 million and call it an off-season with the roster essentially set in stone.
There is a chance the Oilers squeeze Bouchard as they did with McLeod a year ago. Bouchard still does not have arbitration rights meaning that the team has the upper hand in negotiations. If Holland can squeeze out a bit more savings on a one year deal than the Oil may have enough space to add one more value player to fight for a roster spot.
With McLeod signed the Bouchard contract announcement should be coming soon.
Thanks for reading!