Insider reveals Oilers planning to spend $40M on only three players

Next season will be the final year of Draisaitl's contract, and the year after Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard need to be signed. Seravalli believes all players want to stay in Edmonton, and the Oilers are expecting to sign all three to a total of $40M. McDavid will get near $16M, Draisaitl will get $14M, and Bouchard will get $10M all on long term contracts.

By the time all these contracts are expected to kick in, the Salary Cap will have grown to over $92M, much higher from its current limit of $83.5M. Still, spending 43% of the entire salary cap on only three players inevitably makes it harder to fill out other holes in the lineup. While the Oilers still have other problem contracts like Darnell Nurse and Jack Campbell, accommodating these massive salaries will become difficult. Considering Nurse alone, the Oilers will be at $50M for only 4 players.

The Oilers had lucked out for years having Leon Draisaitl signed to the best value deal in the NHL, and even Connor McDavid at a number lower than what he's truly worth. But now having to pay these players their value in free agency, the Oilers will need to be very prudent about their spending around the core.

Alternatively, there's been the debate amongst the NHL that it's impossible to win with so much salary tied to a small portion of the roster. The Toronto Maple Leafs are flailing and directionless right now after repeated playoff failure with locked-up core.

Regardless, as long as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are on the Oilers, they'll always have the talent to be able to go on multiple more Stanley Cup runs. If things end badly this season, they may even be more motivated to return and finish the job. Hopefully with their higher salaries in the future, the Oilers management can still ice a complete team.

Source: Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer