McDavid, Hyman laud offseason moves by Oilers front office

TORONTO -- It’s been 21 days since Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers, and they already have turned the page and are focused on completing their unfinished business next season.

And that Stanley-Cup-or-bust goal seems brighter with some of the moves made this offseason.

“I thought the whole management staff has done a great job,” McDavid said Monday at the fifth annual Zach Hyman Celebrity Classic Charitable Golf Tournament at Oakdale Golf and Country Club. “They’ve had a great offseason so far.”

Fueling the moves, which included signing free agent forwards Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, was the heartbreak of losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final by a score of 2-1 on June 24. And not just the players are motivated.

To McDavid’s point: with former general manager Ken Holland having left the Oilers when his contract expired earlier this month, consider the work spearheaded by Jeff Jackson, Edmonton’s CEO of Hockey Operations, and his staff since the Stanley Cup Playoffs painfully ended three weeks ago.

The opening of free agency July 1 saw Edmonton sign Skinner to a one-year, $3 million contract, one day after the Buffalo Sabres bought out the final three seasons of his eight-year, $72 million contract ($9 million average annual value). The Oilers also signed Arvidsson, who played the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, to a two-year, $8 million contract ($4 million AAV).

The 32-year-old Skinner (357 NHL goals) and the 31-year-old Arvidsson (179) have combined for 536 career goals and should bring much-needed supplemental scoring to a team that already features forwards McDavid (32), Hyman (54), Leon Draisaitl (41) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (18), who combined for 145 goals last season.

The Oilers also re-signed forwards Adam Henrique (two years, $3 million AAV), Mattias Janmark (three years, $1.45 million AAV), Connor Brown (one year, $1 million) and Corey Perry (one year, $1.4 million), and defenseman Troy Stecher (two years, $787,500 AAV). Edmonton added defenseman Josh Brown on a three-year contract ($1 million AAV).

Then, on July 5, the Oilers acquired highly regarded forward prospect Matthew Savoie, a native of the Edmonton suburb of St. Albert, Alberta, in a trade with the Sabres for forwards Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio. The 20-year-old was the No. 9 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.

“It’s been short, it’s been hurried. But I think in the small time they’ve been at it they’ve done great things,” McDavid said. “Keeping as many guys together is a good thing in the salary cap era. It’s tough to do that and [Jackson has] done a great job of finding a way to do that, for the most part.”

Hyman said the off-ice events of the past three weeks have shown that the Oilers are a team that has become an attractive spot for players, either to join or stay with.

“Kenny did a great job during the year and then, obviously with Kenny leaving, [Jeff] kind of took over the mantle and has done a great job bringing in new guys to make the team better, and bringing guys back too,” he said. “I think it’s also a testament to the team that guys are willing to come back on team-friendly deals and take discounts to try to win. I think they see how special it is to play in Edmonton.

“It’s now become more of a destination to play. That’s really awesome to see.”

Hyman said three consecutive years of playing the Kings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs has helped him become familiar with Arvidsson, a player he said is tough to go against, scores greasy goals and will augment the Oilers’ game offensively and defensively.

As for Skinner, Hyman said the two played minor hockey together in the Toronto area when they each were about 8 years old. He quickly added that he did not need to recruit Skinner; the former Sabres forward decided without any Hyman provocation to come to Edmonton.

“We played for a long time together back in the day,” Hyman said. “It’s been a long, long, long time since we played together, but obviously watching from afar and playing against him, he's a really talented guy and goal-scorer.

“Very excited to see how the two of them mesh with our group.”

One that will be welcoming the third line of Connor Brown-Henrique-Janmark back into the mix after all three were re-signed.

On Oct. 22, 2022, Brown, then a member of the Washington Capitals, tore his ACL and missed the remainder of the season. He signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Oilers last offseason and needed much of the season to work his way back to top form, which he started to show against the Panthers in the Final, when he had one goal and one assist and averaged 13:14 of ice time per game, seventh most among Oilers forwards.

“I think my role was starting to expand in the Final and there’s a lot of momentum there for me to build off that,” he said. “I’m really just having fun out there again and, to your point, I think I’m just that much more excited to get going again.”

So too are McDavid and Hyman, who already have started offseason workouts.

“(Zach) and I have already been back getting the bodies moving again and preparing for another year,” McDavid said, adding with a chuckle that “he was there first.

“There’s not much else to do. Just nice to be in a routine.”

Proceeds from the event, which has raised more than $2 million since 2018, will go to Stollery Children’s Hospital, UJA Federations of Toronto and Alberta, SickKids Hospital, and Colby’s Kidz.