Current:Home > MyCan Panthers, Oilers keep their teams together? Plenty of contracts are expiring. -MarketPoint
Can Panthers, Oilers keep their teams together? Plenty of contracts are expiring.
View
Date:2025-04-19 11:32:00
The Florida Panthers have won their first NHL championship in their third trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Edmonton Oilers hope the future is bright after reaching the championship round for the first time in the Connor McDavid era and pushing back from a 3-0 deficit to force Game 7.
Can they keep their teams together?
The recent champion Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche showed that's more difficult in the salary cap era. But this year's finalists will benefit from the salary cap rising from $83.5 million to $88 million.
Here are the decisions that await the Panthers and Oilers:
What's next for the Florida Panthers?
The big offseason questions will be unrestricted free agent forward Sam Reinhart and defenseman Brandon Montour.
Reinhart, 28, had a career year with 57 goals, had 10 more in the playoffs and works well with Aleksander Barkov. He's due a big raise from this season's $6.5 million but might need to take a slight hometown discount.
Montour, 30, had 73 points in 2022-23 but dropped to 33 after offseason shoulder surgery. He's a coveted right-shot defenseman, but Gustav Forsling appears to have supplanted him as the top blue liner and just got an extension.
Other pending unrestricted free agent defensemen are offseason signees Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Dmitry Kulikov. Aaron Ekblad is entering the final year of his contract.
Among the forwards, trade deadline acquisition Vladimir Tarasenko is on a one-year deal. He has a Florida home and has been a good fit on the third line. Kyle Okposo, also acquired at the deadline, won his first Cup at 36. There are other bottom six forwards on the UFA list.
Anton Lundell is a restricted free agent, and Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe have one year left.
Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had two more years on his contract. Backup goalie Anthony Stolarz is unrestricted. Spencer Knight, who didn't play in the NHL this season, is in the system.
What's next for the Edmonton Oilers?
No. 2 scorer Leon Draisaitl is heading into his final season and is eligible for an extension. Connor McDavid has two years left on his deal and forwards Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane are signed beyond next season.
Defenseman Evan Bouchard, who has emerged as the Oilers' top defenseman, is eligible for an extension. He'll be a restricted free agent at the end of next season. Philip Broberg, who took big strides in the playoffs, is restricted.
The Oilers have a long list of UFAs. including their impressive third line of Mattias Janmark, Connor Brown and Adam Henrique. Warren Foegele, who had a four-game point streak in the final, is unrestricted, and Dylan Holloway is restricted.
Goalie Stuart Skinner has two years left on his deal at an inexpensive $2.6 million cap hit. The Oilers need to make a decision on veteran goalie Jack Campbell, who spent most of the season in the American Hockey League. Calvin Pickard is unrestricted.
veryGood! (67)
Related
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Alabama election officials make voter registration inactive for thousands of potential noncitizens
- A planned float in NYC’s India Day Parade is anti-Muslim and should be removed, opponents say
- A look at college presidents who have resigned under pressure over their handling of Gaza protests
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Ex-University of Florida president gave former Senate staffers large raises, report finds
- Amid Matthew Perry arrests, should doctors be blamed for overdose deaths?
- Kim Dotcom loses 12-year fight to halt deportation from New Zealand to face US copyright case
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- After Partnering With the State to Monitor Itself, a Pennsylvania Gas Company Declares Its Fracking Operations ‘Safe’
Ranking
- Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
- Watch mom freeze in shock when airman son surprises her after two years apart
- Neighbor reported smelling gas night before Maryland house explosion
- Don't Miss Out on lululemon's Rarest Finds: $69 Align Leggings (With All Sizes in Stock), $29 Tops & More
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- US prosecutors aim to try Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ Zambada in New York, then in Texas
- Saturday Night Live Alum Victoria Jackson Shares She Has Inoperable Tumor Amid Cancer Battle
- What is vitamin B6 good for? Health experts weigh in on whether you need a supplement.
Recommendation
From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
A studio helps artists with developmental disabilities find their voice. It was almost shuttered.
Escaped inmate convicted of murder captured in North Carolina hotel after dayslong manhunt
What to watch: Facehugging 101 with 'Alien: Romulus'
In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
Iowa proposes summer grocery boxes as alternative to direct cash payments for low-income families
Fentanyl, meth trafficker gets 376-year prison sentence for Colorado drug crimes
Watch as frantic Texas cat with cup stuck on its head is rescued, promptly named Jar Jar