Top Oilers forwards will make less than Leafs "core four" next season
The Edmonton Oilers are not only paying less money to their core four forwards than the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they are also getting more production from them throughout the last three seasons.
With news breaking on Monday that the Leafs had signed forward William Nylander to a max-term deal with an $11.5 million cap hit, it meant that the team has invested over $46 million of next season’s cap to their “core four” forwards.
This includes Auston Matthews ($13.25 million), John Tavares ($11 million), Mitch Marner ($10.9 million), and now Nylander ($11.5 million). It is a lot of money to invest in just four players, but the Leafs have been getting production.
In total, those four players have combined to score 883 points over the last three seasons.
Capfriendly.com
Though that may seem like great value, the Oilers have their Eastern Conference foes beat on both the price of their core forwards as well as production. In Edmonton, the team has about $31.6 million tied up in their top four forwards which include Connor McDavid ($12.5 million), Leon Draisaitl ($8.5 million), Zach Hyman ($5.5 million), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($5.125 million).
That group of four has scored a combined 978 points over the last three seasons despite making more than $10 million less than the Leafs’ quartet.
To give Toronto some credit, the Oilers are benefitting from both McDavid and Draisaitl signing long-term value contracts back in 2017 as well as a few very good seasons from Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins.
The last contract signed by the Oilers of those four players was Hyman in the summer of 2021.
The Leafs, on the other hand, have been very busy with locking up their core four of late and have had to doll out some larger numbers in a much more expensive market. Leafs GM Brad Treliving had to extend an established Matthews with the highest-ever cap hit in NHL history and was then backed into a corner after Nylander exploded this season.
While the Oilers hold the advantage in cost for at least the next two seasons, that could change when Edmonton has to resign both McDavid and Draisaitl to much more expensive extensions.
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