The 3 WORST contracts on the Oilers
By Ethan Maat on September 26, 2022
The Edmonton Oilers made a plethora of significant moves this past off-season, giving huge contracts to players like Jack Campbell, Evander Kane and Brett Kulak. Over the past few seasons, Oilers general manager Ken Holland hasn’t been afraid to dish out long-term deals in hopes for the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup within the next few seasons.
In my opinion, 3 of the worst contracts that will hinder the Oilers in the long term are…
Darnell Nurse
Last year the Edmonton Oilers locked up former first-round pick Darnell Nurse to a 7-year, 64.75 million dollar deal which would end up paying him 9.25 million dollars per season. Most of the time, people view players on terrible contracts automatically as players who suck, but despite what a majority of fans will tell you, Darnell Nurse does not suck. He plays top pairing minutes for one of the strongest teams in the western conference and puts up many points. He’s worth a ton of money, but he just isn’t quite at the 9.25 million dollar level yet.
Tyson Barrie
Sticking with the theme of defencemen, Tyson Barrie is a defenceman that can’t play defence. Although he only has 2 years left at 4.5, the Barrie contract has blocked them from being able to become cap compliant and, even worse, not being able to resign Ryan McLeod. With other offence-minded defencemen in Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse, it becomes hard to find an argument for keeping Barrie around.
Jack Campbell
This summer, the Edmonton Oilers went out and got one of the top goaltending free agents in Jack Campbell on a 5-year, a 25-million-dollar deal that pays him 5 million a year. Don’t get me wrong; I am the biggest Jack Campbell fan in the world, but he’s only been a starter in the NHL for a year and a half, and he’s also 30 years old. Last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Campbell put up all-star numbers to start, but he quickly fell off for most of the remaining months of the season. It’s a huge bet to make, but only time will tell if this contract is a win or not.
Photo by Tim Trad on Unsplash