Will Edmonton Oilers sign Saad? Plenty of signs point toward it
The Edmonton Oilers have already made one in-season signing this year, but could Brandon Saad make it two?
With the news of the St. Louis Blues placing the veteran Saad on waivers and subsequently terminating his contract, it is now a possibility. The 32-year-old will now hit the open market after notching just seven goals and 16 points in 43 games this season.
Saad has been relegated to a bottom-six role in St. Louis, having been passed on the depth chart by former Oilers forward Dylan Holloway. He is coming off a 26-goal campaign with the Blues last season, and it still looks like he has the wheels to be an NHL player.
To further his connection to the Oilers, 880 CHED’s Bob Stauffer alluded on Tuesday’s edition of OilersNow that Saad could be interested in joining Edmonton.
“Not everybody has wanted to come [to Edmonton],” Stauffer said. “Now a lot of them wanna come here, including the guy that was waived today [Saad].”
Considering that Stauffer is one of the most connected guys in Edmonton sports media, that isn’t a throwaway line.
Here are a few other reasons why Saad could be Oilers-bound in the next week or so:
Connection to Oilers GM
Saad broke into the NHL after being drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks 43rd-overall in the 2011 draft by none other than current Oilers GM Stan Bowman.
If anybody knows Saad as a player, it would be Bowman, as he not only drafted Saad and watched him win two Stanley Cups in Chicago but also traded for him. The Pittsburgh native was sent away to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a cap dump trade in 2015 but returned to the Windy City as part of the Artemi Panarin trade in 2017.
It’s clear that Bowman has an affinity for Saad, and having him on the open market in the middle of the season may be an appealing move for the Oilers GM.
Fits a need
The Oilers will be looking to add a bit more of a scoring touch to their bottom-six, and Saad fits the bill for that type of player.
He may be struggling this season, but he is a proven goalscorer in this league and still has the speed to help generate chances on a nightly basis. Saad would most likely slot in on a line with Adam Henrique and one of Connor Brown or Zach Hyman (who has played there of late) which sounds like a trio that could spark some chemistry.
Saad also isn’t afraid to get physical, standing at six-foot-one and 215 lbs, which may give him a leg up on a guy like Jeff Skinner, who has been in and out of the lineup lately.
Potentially cap-friendly
There is no question that Saad left money on the table by agreeing to terminate his current contract in St. Louis. He was under contract with the Blues through the end of next season and carried a $4.5 million cap hit on that deal.
He will not be able to get that amount of money from an Oilers team that will be counting every penny ahead of the trade deadline. Due to his recent struggles, he’d probably be hard-pressed to find anything near that from any other team as well.
That being said, it’s hard to believe a player who scored 20 goals last season will go for around the league minimum. The best bet is a pro-rated one-year deal around the $1.5 to $2 million mark, potentially a little cheaper.
Bowman and the Oilers should be able to make something along those lines work with how the current cap situation is laid out.
History repeating itself
The Oilers have an extensive history of signing players with terminated contracts in the midseason over the last few seasons.
It started back in 2022 with Evander Kane inking a deal after seeing his contract terminated by the San Jose Sharks. Then came along Corey Perry who found himself in a similar position with the Chicago Blackhawks last season.
This situation is a little bit different, considering Saad mutually agreed to terminate his deal with the Blues, but that doesn’t change the optics all that much. Chances are, if there is a terminated contract of a semi-decent player, the Oilers will call at some point.