Oilers GM Ken Holland has several important pieces of business to sort out before the start of the 2023-24 season.

The Edmonton Oilers are a playoff team. Now the next step is to establish themselves as a Stanley Cup Contender. Part of that involves making every dollar count and saving money where they can. 

Related: 5 Best Ken Holland Trades as Oilers' GM

General manager Ken Holland has a busy summer ahead of him. For them to make the next step as a franchise, they need to check off these four items.

Sign Bouchard To A Long Term Deal

The best thing to do with Evan Bouchard is sign him to a deal for six to eight years at $7-$8M. It's better for the team and better for the long term certainty of the roster. If he signs a bridge deal, he could price himself out of Edmonton for his following contract. I could see him being worth at least $9-$10M for his long term deal after a bridge contract. The salary cap may force this decision in that direction, regardless of better options available.

Trade Yamamoto For Draft Picks

Along with Bouchard the Oilers have free agents Klim Kostin, Derek Ryan, Nick Bjugstad and Ryan McLeod. To keep all of them the Oilers need to trade a player to give them as much cap space as possible. The most likely candidate is Kailer Yamamoto. He's still young enough to be a desirable asset, even if the Oilers may need to add something to make a deal happen. It's a trade you don't want to make, but the Oilers may have to in order to push the team forward.

Draft the Best Player Available at 56 Overall

Depending on what picks they get for Yamamoto, they could draft higher in this year's Entry Draft. For now, they are slotted at 56th overall. That pick is near the end of the second round of the draft, so it could still be a great player. Often smaller players fall to this range, and they could take a swing on one of them. 

Related: 5 Best Oilers' Draft Picks from the Chiarelli Years

Andrew Cristall was ranked 68th on The Athletic's Corey Pronman's latest mock draft. If the draft goes that way at all and Cristall is available at 56, the Oilers need to run to the podium to pick him.

Play Broberg NHL Regular Minutes Or Trade Him

Philip Broberg was the 7th overall draft pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. That was the summer that Ken Holland took over as general manager. Lauded for his impressive skating and two way ability, he looked like a great pick at the time. He's played 69 games over the last two seasons, averaging 12:54 of time on ice (TOI) over those games. He is a left handed defender who can play on the right side. He's forced to play there because Darnell Nurse, Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak are all left handed and higher on the depth chart. The Oilers could have another Oscar Klefbom on their hands, and need to start pushing him in that direction.

The Oilers' Holland has an important few months before training camp. Let's see which items will be checked off the list before the start of the new season.