EDMONTON – With another heartbreak in the rearview mirror, we enter silly season.
This is the part of the year every Edmonton Oilers fan is intimately familiar with. It’s an opportunity to put your mind in the shoes of Oilers GM Stan Bowman and determine what you would do with the roster.
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Who stays and who goes? Who gets offered an extension and who gets put on the trade block? Who gets asked to waive their no-trade clause and who gets bought out?
Speaking of buy-outs, the buy-out window officially opens on June 20th, at approximately 7:30 AM Mountain Time, according to PuckPedia. The window will close on June 30th at 3 PM Mountain Time. For many teams, this will be the only time they can buy out a contract over the NHL season.
The Oilers don’t have a lot of options for reasonable buy-outs. However, here are two that would make sense and two that are quite a stretch.
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Two Reasonable Oilers’ Buy-Outs
Viktor Arvidsson
Years Remaining: 1 Year
Salary Cap: $4.00 million
Buy-Out Cost: $1.33 Million x 2 Years
The 2024-25 season didn’t go as planned for the Oilers and Viktor Arvidsson. The Swedish winger overcame injuries during various portions of the season, but didn’t find the consistency the player and the team were seeking.
Arvidsson only has one year left on his $4 million contract. If the Oilers can’t find a suitor for him, they are on the hook for $1.33 million for this coming season and next year – saving them $2.66 million in 2025-26.
Adam Henrique
Years Remaining: 1 Year
Salary Cap: $3.00 Million
Buy-Out Cost: $1 Million x 2 Years
It might be time to stop the Adam Henrique experiment in Edmonton. He has been a serviceable player, including being a faceoff guru during the playoffs, but is that kind of player worth another year at $3 million? That’s a question that the Oilers need to answer for themselves.
By buying out the final year of Henrique’s deal, they would save themselves $2 million for this coming year, and be on the hook for $1 million the year after.
Two Out-Of-Left-Field Possibilities
Everyone loves wild speculation – which is why I included two highly unlikely buy-outs. Please note: there is no way that the Oilers are even considering these possibilities, but that hasn’t stopped people from being curious before.
Evander Kane
Years Remaining: 1 Year
Salary Cap: $5.125 Million
Buy-Out Cost: $2.458,333 Year 1, $1.333,333 Year 2
Evander Kane started the playoffs strong but eventually rendered himself ineffective when he couldn’t get on the scoresheet and was only depended upon to receive undisciplined penalties.
Kane is entering the final year of his $5.125 million contract. Yes, he missed the entire regular season this past year. As the Stanley Cup Final demonstrated, taking unnecessary penalties can be the difference between winning and losing.
If Kane had played the same way against the Florida Panthers that he did against the Los Angeles Kings, Oilers fans and media alike might be singing his praises instead.
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Darnell Nurse
Years Remaining: 5 Years
Salary Cap: $9.25 Million
Buy-Out Cost: $290,000 Year 1, $8,290,000 Year 2, $9,090,000 Year 3, $9,090,000 Year 4, $9,090,000 Year 5, $1,040,000 Year 6, $1,040,000 Year 7, $1,040,000 Year 8, $1,040,000 Year 9, $1,040,000 Year 10
Let the record show that there is no way the Oilers even consider buying out Darnell Nurse. However, on the PuckPedia website the most popular buy out is Nurse.
To satisfy the curiousity of many, here is how the buy out would look. Spoiler alert: it’s terrible.
A buy-out would only save the Oilers money in the first year that Nurse would be off the team. In 2025-26, they would save $8.96 million. That’s the only good thing about a potential buy-out.
The problem with a buy-out is that the Oilers would still be on the hook for signing bonuses. Starting in the 2026-27 season, Nurse will have the majority of his contract paid out in signing bonuses.
If the Oilers do plan on moving Nurse, it's going to have to come in the form of a trade – and one that he approves of.
Of these four options, Arvidsson and Henrique are the most likely options for a buy-out if they are not able to find a trade (and if they want to move them). Kane and Nurse are less likely for different reasons.
At the end of the day, Bowman needs to decide what direction to take this team and how much to change this summer.
Let silly season begin!
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