The Edmonton Oilers are faced with plenty of tough decisions over the next month, with multiple players poised to become unrestricted free agents (UFA). The Oilers have a total of up to eight players projected to hit the open market as UFAs on July 1st.
Due to the players coming off the books, that also gives the Oilers slightly above $14.5 million to work with to fill out their roster. This should be more than enough, especially if general manager Stan Bowman plays his cards right and promotes multiple young players.
One player whose contract is set to expire is veteran forward Adam Henrique and depending on his contract demands, the Oilers would be better to move on.
Henrique has declined
The season that the Oilers acquired Henrique from the Anaheim Ducks at the 2024 NHL trade deadline, he had scored 18 goals and 22 assists for 42 points through 60 games. After joining the club he added another nine points in 22 regular season games (six goals, three assists).
That summer, he signed a two year extension worth $3 million per season and proceeded to score 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 81 games played. It was a noticeable drop off but then came this past season where Henrique scored three goals and 12 assists for just 15 points in 65 games while logging over 13 minutes a game on average.
At this stage, Henrique's role is a defensively responsible fourth line faceoff specialist. This past year he won 54% of his draws this past season, down from his previous average of over 55% with the Oilers. His defensive statistics were generally solid, leading all regular Oilers forwards in xGA/60 and fifth in CA/60 at 5-on-5 according to evolving-hockey.com.
Oilers need to get more from their depth
At 36 years old, Henrique's best seasons are far behind him but at one point he was a premier second line centre in the NHL for the New Jersey Devils in his prime.
Now, if he plays in the NHL next year, it will likely be relegated to a fourth line centre or extra forward role. Especially for a team like the Oilers that have shown a need to be able to extract more value out of their depth players, the Oilers will need more than 15 points from a bottom-six player.
If the Oilers do in fact bring Henrique back, it should solely be to fill a defensive fourth line role or more likely as a depth "13th forward" role at a very low cap number. That should bring him down to roughly league minimum in the $850,000 - $1 million range.
If it will cost more than that, the Oilers need to move on. The club needs to be bold this summer and make moves that could drastically improve the club. Especially with players like Alex Tuch or other intriguing forwards available. As well, Vezina winning netminder, Sergei Bobrovsky who could solve the Oilers' goaltending woes, they need to be aggressive.
