Oilers lock up Caggiula in new deal
Versatile winger gets salary bump, two-year contract
With a busy summer ahead of him, Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli got to work on some of his housekeeping duties this week, signing winger Drake Caggiula to a two-year contract.
Caggiula, who was a restricted free agent, made $925,000 in base salary last season and topped out at $1.3 million including bonuses.
He’ll make $1.5 million a year in the latest deal.
It’s a slight bump, reflective of the slight uptick in Caggiula’s play over the past season, but stops short of a long-term commitment. At this point, both sides are waiting to see what kind of player the 23-year-old University of North Dakota product develops into.
Caggiula had a solid rookie season, chipping in seven goals and 11 assists in 60 regular season games and three more goals in 13 playoff games.
There were high hopes for him in year two, but he didn’t take much of a step forward as a sophomore, putting up just 20 points in 67 games.
Though he did bump his goal total from seven to 13, he didn’t take the kind of step he or management was hoping for. It was a difficult season for him all around with missing the playoffs and losing several teeth after being hit in the face with a puck in Anaheim.
Caggiula moved all over the lineup in an attempt to secure a foothold some place. He was a fourth line left winger, third line left winger, third line right winger, second line right winger, second line left winger, first line right winger and healthy scratch — all in the first 45 games.
So he has a lot left to prove in Edmonton and the two-year contract allows him to do that, while the Oilers watch and see which direction his career heads.
The club is counting on him to take a big step forward this season because they have a lot of question marks on the wing right now, especially with Milan Lucic receptive to a change of address.
Aside from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Lucic and Caggiula, the Oilers finished last season with Ty Rattie, Jesse Puljujarvi, Jujhar Khaira, Zack Kassian and Anton Slepyshev on the wings, none of whom should be counted on to be consistent offensive producers next year.
Chiarelli needs to bolster that lineup somehow, while managing to stay under a salary cap that has $38 million tied up in Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Lucic, Nugent-Hopkins and Andrej Sekera.
Chiarelli still has to sign three more restricted free agents this summer: defencemen Darnell Nurse and Matt Benning and forward Ryan Strome.