I don't understand the Edmonton Oilers...

[les_glorieux]

Last summer, the Edmonton GM went on a spending spree. His offer sheet to Thomas Vanek forced Buffalo to sign Vanek to a seven-year contract worth $50 million, starting with a cool $10 million this season.

Then Lowe made Dustin Penner an offer Brian Burke could and did refuse to match: $21.25 million for five years. The contract infuriated the Anaheim GM, who has been trashing Lowe ever since.

Edmonton also signed Sheldon Souray for $27 million over five years.

Lowe's latest signings are defenceman Tom Gilbert and forward Robert Nilsson, young Oilers who were pending Restricted Free Agents.

Gilbert, who's 25, got a six-year contract worth $24 million (3.5, 3.5, 5.5, 5, 3.5 and 3). Gilbert, who made $825,000 this season, played 82 games. He scored 13 goals, added 20 assists, was minus-6 and blocked 159 shots – tops among NHL rookies.

Nilsson, 23, signed for $5 million over three years (1.5, 2 and 2). He played 71 games, scored 10 goals, added 31 asssists and was plus-8. Nilsson made $942,000 this season.

Bear those Edmonton numbers in mind as you weigh the value of a couple Canadiens RFAs:

• Mark Streit, 29, scored 13 goals, had 49 assists, was minus-6 and made $600,000.

• Andrei Kostitsyn, 22, had 26 goals, 27 assists and was plus-15. His salary was $612,000.

Josh Gorges, who made $425,000 this season is another pending RFA. So's Maxim Lapierre.

And we won't even talk about Tomas Plekanec and Christopher Higgins, who become RFAs at the end of next season; or Mike Komisarek, who will be a UFA in the summer of '09.

www.habsinsideout.com

EDIT: Their cap hit for 08-09 is $39,547,000.

Edited April 12, 2008 by les_glorieux

[Fanpuck33]

Streit is an unrestricted free agent.

[Captain_Stealth]

Well he's been in a desperate situation for the most part. The only UFA he managed to get was Souray based on the fact Sheldon was willing to come home. Vanek and Penner were guys he obviously targeted as he wanted to improve his team but he wasn't exactly smart on Vanek nor Penner. Vanek from a team who had just lost Drury and Briere... very smart. Penner from a GM like Burke? Not to mention the fact Penner isn't a huge difference maker so the picks actually turned out to be pretty decent. However, their young kids stepped up and saved it from being a lot better even with all their key injuries.

The Tom Gilbert contract was a little much IMO but it's isn't all that bad. Gilbert has been great for the Oil and he's going to be a solid d-man for them for years to come. The Nilsson contract is a steal right now however. He was instrumental with Cogliano and Gagner in leading that team to their late season surge.

We can be mad that he's inflating the market but the RFA offers really can't be taken into account due to their situations. The salaries being handed out for UFA's are not just Lowe's doing either but a lot of other GM's around the league. There's a lot of RFA's out there to boot this year and it's speculated there will be some poaching most likely. The Habs have a few obviously but this is among the few downsides of having so many solid younger players needing new contracts.

[Captain_Stealth]

I forgot to add that Gilbert's contract is eating four years of UFA years. That's why he got a little more money in the end.

[RobRock]

They were talking about this last night during the second intermission of the Habs/Bruins game. Because of the earlier UFA age, teams have to evaluate and project their younger players earlier and get them signed before they reach 27, and in order to do that, they have to be willing to risk overpaying them early, in the hopes that they develop into the players who would merit their salaries. The theory is that GMs will shift from focusing on the unrestricted free agents back to re-signing their own players, at longer terms, which will result in UFA salaries going down because the ability to pay them what they've earned in the past won't be there.