Stan Bowman says the Edmonton Oilers are heading into the season with real financial flexibility for the first time under his watch.
The Oilers general manager told OilersNow on Friday he expects to start the year with somewhere between $4 million and $4.5 million in cap space.
That is not pocket change in this league. And Bowman was blunt about where he expects to spend it.
"We have three goalies and a lot of D, so it's more likely if we were going to be adding a player, it would be a forward," Bowman said.
This is new territory for a front office that spent its first two seasons scraping for nickels. Bowman called it "sort of the ideal situation."
"You can't always put yourself in this position because things change, or you have players that are going to get raises that you definitely need, and sometimes your team is in a spot where you don't have much room," he said.
Why Oilers finally have breathing room after two tight years
Edmonton finished 41-30-11 with 93 points this season, good for second in the Pacific Division. That is a team that can afford to be patient instead of desperate.
Connor McDavid carries a $12,500,000 cap hit and Leon Draisaitl sits at $14,000,000, the two biggest numbers on the roster by a wide margin. Managing around those anchors is exactly why Bowman is choosing his words carefully now.
"We were not in a position to if a player comes available in November that makes $2.5 million that you like, but they don't want, they're just trying to shed salary, we were never even in the market for that," Bowman said. "It was impossible. But now we want to leave some money available."
That is a GM admitting his hands were tied for two years. Worth remembering next time someone wonders why Edmonton did not chase a rental.
Bowman was careful not to promise anything reckless, either. "We're not trying to just accrue cap space ad nauseam, you can never spend it all. But I think that you have to have some flexibility. We've put ourselves in a good spot."
Edmonton is coming off a 6-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks and carries a six-game, two-loss stretch over its last 10. Momentum is real heading into a season where the front office finally has options instead of excuses.
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The question now is whether Bowman actually pulls the trigger on a forward when November hits, or whether that $4.5 million just sits there as insurance. Oilers fans have heard "flexibility" before.
Should the Oilers spend that $4.5 million on a forward the moment one becomes available?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
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