This could benefit the Oilers, although only Toews can say for certain. Having made a lot of money over his career, and after several recent seasons toiling with a subpar Blackhawks team, it is quite possible, perhaps even likely, that Toews would be more concerned with which team he signed with rather than for how much money. Nowhere near as effective a player as he once was, Toews will be taking a significant pay decrease if he returns to action in this upcoming NHL season. Toews is coming off of a long contract with a $10.5M cap hit. Any player coming into the team at this point would almost assuredly have to come in at less than $1M against the cap. This parameter goes for the “fourth line centre” venture, as well as any acquisition that the Oilers make under their current cap situation, but the Oilers can barely afford a league minimum cap hit. Toews’ defensive metrics have plummeted, as did every they for every forward near the top of the Blackhawks lineup. Toews’ offensive production has taken a nosedive, but he still appears to have a positive effect on his team generating offence. While his health status would understandably hinder his performance, as would the time off, so too would his advancing age, not to mention the increasingly feeble state of the Chicago Blackhawks lineup.
Toews suffered a long battle with long COVID as well as chronic immune response syndrome, as much of the past four years have been quite obscured by questions of if Toews could play again. He has a long track record of on ice excellence while the recent years have been less kind to Toews. Toews is one of the more accomplished players in the history of the NHL. Let’s explore what such a concept would entail. On top of filling the fourth line centre role, if not more, Toews would seem to make a good fit with the Oilers. As it stands, Toews is yet to officially retire, meaning there is, theoretically, some chance he decides to keep playing.
For his part, Toews is largely rumoured to be retiring, but perhaps the right set of circumstances might yet lure his services. However, among the players still available is one that stands out from the rest, Jonathan Toews. We should not be holding Holland to those comments too closely, after all a number of unexpected players remain on the free agent market, and the Oilers are surely looking for any upgrade that might be available. Holland got even more specific, mentioning that a fourth line centre might still be an area that the Oilers are targeting to complete their ideal NHL roster with 13 forwards, seven defencemen, and two goalies. Not only are we aware that this is the case, but Oilers GM Ken Holland admitted as much in his post free agency availability. Although the Edmonton Oilers are impossibly close to the upper limit of the NHL’s salary cap-with some key RFAs left to sign no less-there might still be room for another signing.
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