Can the Edmonton Oilers afford to land that big fish on July 1?

Every fan wants his general manager to land the big fish on July 1, but for too many teams that won the bidding war on an unrestricted free agent, the whale they landed turns into the deadliest catch.

Spending too much for too long can handcuff a team for years.

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So, it will be with caution that Edmonton Oilers GM Stan Bowman tests the waters Tuesday morning when the NHL’s free agent market opens for the summer.

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The wish list for fans in Edmonton is the usual: equal parts necessary and unrealistic. They want Bowman to make winger Brock Boeser and goaltender Jake Allen work under the salary cap while also bolstering an ever-evolving bottom six.

As much as Leon Draisaitl needs a legitimate top six winger so he doesn’t have to carry around third and fourth liners, and as much as a change of scenery in net might make a difference, checking all those boxes won’t be easy with $11 million worth of cap space.

The Oilers would love to position themselves to make a major move, but Bowman, who already has two of the biggest fish in hockey’s pond, says tempered expectations are in order.

“You never want to rule anything out, but if you set that as the objective sometimes you’re chasing something that ultimately doesn’t make sense,” he said.

“It’s all a function of how much cap space you have, what the term on the deal is. I’m not opposed to bringing in a big-name player but I would say we’re not looking at it like we have to do that. You have to take it as it comes and see what makes the most sense.”

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The Boeser rumours sound exciting, a natural goal scorer on Draisaitl’s wing is a perfect fit, and his joining a contender with a strong culture after the train wreck in Vancouver makes sense from his perspective, too.

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Fitting him into the mix at $8 million or more could be tough, though.

Evan Bouchard getting a bump from $3.9 million into the $10 million neighbourhood chews up a lot of that space, but there are ways to free up a little breathing room.

Viktor Arvidsson ($4 million) and the Oilers both agree it wasn’t a great fit here and he’s willing to lift his no movement clause while Adam Henrique ($3 million) might be on the table, as well.

While Arvidsson and Henrique moving frees up $7 million of cap space, UFAs Connor Brown and Corey Perry are exploring the open market and Jeff Skinner isn’t coming back, so that’s a handful of players who might need to be replaced.

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Edmonton’s depth isn’t something they can gloss over, either. It was a big help in the first three rounds of the playoffs (the Oilers probably don’t even get to the Final without it) but it disappeared against Florida. It was the Panthers third line, and goaltending, that tiled the scales in their favour.

The Oilers are in a penny-pinching mode these days and would like to have Perry and Brown back, but it’s about money at this point.

There are some internal options the Oilers hope might serve as a bargain fix (Matt Savoie at $886,666, David Tomasek at $1.2 million), but building a middle and bottom six that can win you a Stanley Cup will be a top priority between now and next season’s trade deadline.

All the holes don’t have to be filled by July 2, though. As we all know, the regular season means very little, so they can use that time to see how the new guys and the goalies are holding up before loading up again next March.

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On defence, Bowman says he is quite content to stand pat on a core of Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Mattis Ekholm, Jake Walman and Brett Kulak. He also expects Troy Emberson to take another step forward in his development.

“I thought our defence played great in the playoffs, I was really excited about that group,” said Bowman. “I think our defence had a great season and I expect them to be a strength of our team next year.”

HOUSEKEEPING DUTIES

The Oilers re-signed forward Kasperi Kapanen to a one-year contract extension worth $1.3M. Kapanen played 12 postseason games for the Oilers last year, posting three goals and three assists.

They also signed Noah Philp to a one-year, $775,000 contract. Philp made his NHL debut with the Oilers in October, playing 15 games and registering a pair of assists.

The 26-year-old played 55 games in AHL Bakersfield, scoring 19 goals and adding 16 assists.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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