A Look Into The Future: Salary Cap "Situation" 2013-2014

Written By: Hongkong Philly

If you're not excited in Edmonton right now, your locked in a cellar deprived of internet and television. The rebuild is in full effect as the Oilers are investing the future of the franchise into the young bucks. The problem is their contracts all begin this season, and since they are under they're rookie contracts they will end at the same time, in the 2013-2014 season. There are only 2 Oiler contracts that are still valid in 2013-2014:

Shawn Horcoff: 5.5 Million----> A no movement clause, and a no trade clause.

Tom Gilbert: 4.0 Million
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9.5 Million

Now here is the predicted roster in 2013-2014 and the contracts that they will receive:

Forwards:

Ales Hemsky/ Dustin Penner: 5.5 Million (They will only keep one of the 2)
Sam Gagner: 4.5 Million
Gilbert Brule: 2.75 Million
Linus O'Mark: 2 Million
Colin Fraser: 1.5 Million
Zack Stortini: 1 Million
-------------------------
17.25 Million


Defense:

Ryan Whitney: 5 Million
Ladislav Smid: 3.5 Million
Jeff Petry: 2.0 Million
Alex Plante: 1.5 Million
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12 Million

Goalie:

Devan Dubnyk: 2 Million
Olivier Roy: 1 Million ( Rookie Bonus)
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3 Million

The Young Bucks:

Taylor Hall: 6 million
Jordan Eberle: 3 Million
Magnus Paajarvi: 4 Million
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13 Million

That now puts the Oilers at 54.75 million dollars. You would expect the cap space in the NHL to lower due to the economy so we'll say it will be at 56 million. We have 10 forwards, 5 defenceman, and 2 goalies, which means we need at least 2 forwards, and 1 defenceman. Not to mention they need a couple extra roster spots in case of injuries or scratches. They will be right at the cap without a full roster. The offense on the roster looks great, but the defense is very questionable, and the goaltending is shakey at best. Add to the fact that a different team could throw an offer sheet at one of the young'ens and we could be in trouble.

The question that raises concern, do we send Taylor back to cut 1 more year off his entry level contract? He is likely ready for the NHL now, but is there urgency to have him in the line up? If the young guys stick, the Oilers will  have some housekeeping 3 years from now to keep their core group in tact. It will be interesting to see what Steve Tambo does with this roster, as it will need some fine tweaking 3 years down the road if we hope to be cup contenders by then.