With Leon Draisaitl signed, the Oilers must avoid familiar team-building pitfalls

The blueprint for the Edmonton Oilers long-term roster construction was laid out the moment Leon Draisaitl signed his massive extension.

Now its up to GM Stan Bowman and hockey operations CEO Jeff Jackson to think strategically and proactively while leaving themselves precious little margin for error.

Advertisement Draisaitl staying put in Edmonton means running mate Connor McDavid is expected to sign a long-term contract before his current one expires in July 2026.

This can only be viewed as wonderful news for the organization regardless of the impending salary cap challenges.

Draisaitl getting a $14 million AAV cap hit for eight years, beginning next season, means McDavids next deal probably wont be cheaper than $16 million on average per annum as colleague James Mirtle wrote .

The smart money is on that number being even higher.

Conservatively, the Oilers will have at least $30 million tied up in two players if McDavid re-signs.

Theyll have roughly $55 million committed to seven players with a salary cap that isnt expected to be more than $97 million by the time McDavids would-be contract kicks in.

And thats without star blueliner Evan Bouchard being considered, too.

Bouchard is in the last year of his $3.9 million AAV contract and is slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.

He can be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

Considering Cale Makar signed his $9 million AAV deal in 2021, and teammate Darnell Nurse has a $9.25 million cap hit, its a safe assumption Bouchards annual salary on his next long-term contract will start at $9 million.

Barring trading someone like Nurse, whose contract comes with a no-movement clause through the end of the 2026-27 season, the Oilers will have approximately $64 million locked up in eight players.

All this isnt ideal, but its not like its terrible.

Quite the opposite, actually.

As Bowman said Tuesday, there arent many players in the world like Draisaitl.

Keeping him in the fold was the GMs top priority.

Thats just good business, the type any of Bowmans colleagues would endorse especially given the Oilers are a veteran group desperate to get over the hump.

Advertisement Besides, elite talents like Draisaitl, McDavid and Bouchard basically cant be overpaid when theyre at or near the zenith of their powers.

Sure, its always helpful for team-building purposes to get them signed for a bit less than whatever the final figures end up being or cut out a year or two when the deal extends to the late 30s.

But thats not where teams get into trouble.

Bowman should know better than anyone about this based on his last stop in Chicago.

Signing Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to matching eight-year, $10.5 million AAV extensions in July 2014 ultimately didnt pan out in terms of team success.

The contracts kicked in after Chicago claimed its third Stanley Cup in six years in 2015 and the team won just a single playoff round the 2020 qualifying round over the Oilers for the entire length of those deals.

That wasnt on Toews and Kane.

They largely lived up to expectations when healthy, though long COVID limited Toews effectiveness and hampered his career before the sixth year of the deal commenced.

Bowmans errors werent the megadeals to Toews and Kane.

The mistakes were rewarding an even older player for past performance and making short-sighted trades.

Giving defenceman Brett Seabrook a $6.875 million AAV max-term extension that was slated to take him to age 39 was the prime example of the former blunder.

That contract, which began when Seabrook was 31, was nothing but an albatross for the organization all for a player who was on the decline.

Another case of this was giving Richard Panik a two-year, $2.8 million AAV contract.

At least the Oilers dont really have anyone in that situation to tempt Bowman.

Draisaitl is one of the top players in the game and is now signed.

McDavid is, well, McDavid already an inner-circle Hall of Famer at 27.

Bouchard turns 25 in October.

Theres zero issue with getting him locked up to an eight-year deal like Seabrook was issued whether thats by next summer or before hes eligible to become a UFA.

Edmontons other core skaters Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins , Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm have their contracts wrapped up in their mid-30s.

Save for maybe Stuart Skinner , whos in a different class as a goaltender, theres no Oiler in the Seabrook realm.

What Bowman and Jackson must guard against is overpaying depth contributors, which, granted, is something they shouldnt have too much trouble doing given their cap constraints.

The Oilers are about to become the latest team to allocate more than half its budget to a select few players.

Start thinking of them as the western version of the Toronto Maple Leafs , whove been known for having their core four forwards to say nothing of blueliner Morgan Rielly .

Advertisement That means, as Bowman said Tuesday, its his job to fill the back half of the roster with inexpensive veterans and young players on cheap contracts.

Upcoming free-agent shopping will have to look a lot like what happened on July 1 .

Thats when Jackson, acting as the GM, signed the likes of Jeff Skinner , Viktor Arvidsson , Adam Henrique , Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown to low-cost and/or short-term deals.

Bowmans other missteps in Chicagos transition from contenders to also-rans pertained to trading young talent for hopeful quick fixes.

Ditching Phillip Danault and a second-round pick for Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann was one of Bowmans worst deals.

Including Teuvo Teravainen in a trade to get out from the last year of Bryan Bickells contract was another.

These are the types of moves that set a franchise back.

This is something Bowman and Jackson must be cognizant of in the years ahead.

Its not a pressing concern because the Oilers hold the dubious distinction of having the 30th-ranked pipeline in the NHL , according to our Corey Pronman.

Matt Savoie is really the only player slated for pro hockey whos considered a top prospect.

The Oilers will need to figure out a way to find more of these players, develop them and integrate them into the lineup in a meaningful manner.

Easier said than done considering the Oilers are once again without a first-round pick after moving up in the draft a few months ago to select Sam OReilly 32nd.

Thats where it would have been nice to have left enough money in the budget to retain Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway .

Instead, the St.

Louis Blues swooped in with offer sheets that the Oilers opted not to match .

The Oilers have made their bed from the start of free agency through to Tuesdays signing of Draisaitl.

Thatll become only more apparent as McDavids and Bouchards futures get sorted out in the months ahead.

Theres little wrong with that, but theyd better think extra carefully about every other move they make from now on.

(Photo: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images).

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