Connor Brown, a Washington Capitals player for all of four games, is moving onto the Edmonton Oilers in free agency.
Brown signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Oilers. His new contract is uniquely structured so that his cap hit will be just $775,000 and the remaining $3.25 million will come via performance bonuses. Brown is betting on himself post-ACL surgery.
The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was first to report the news.
#Oilers were able to land Connor Brown using a unique structure coming off his ACL injury. Sounds like 1 year x $775,000 plus potential $3.25 million in bonuses.
Will only count as $775k on the cap.@DailyFaceoff @CapFriendly
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 1, 2023
Brown was originally brought in by the Caps from the Ottawa Senators as cover for a recovering Tom Wilson who had undergone ACL surgery. In a cruel twist of fate, Brown would tear his ACL in the infancy of his Caps career and Wilson would end up playing 29 more games than him during the 2022-23 campaign.
Brown let the Caps know last week that he planned on testing free agency. Despite that, general manager Brian MacLellan said he was still open to discussing a return.
“I thought it was a great fit last year,” MacLellan said. “Would probably be a good fit moving forward. We like the person, we like the style of play he does. We’ll see what happens for him in free agency. This is the first time he’s gonna be able to go to free agency so I think he wants to talk to teams and see where he’s at with that. We’ll remain in communication with him and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
However, a reunion with junior teammate Connor McDavid always seemed like Brown’s eventual landing spot. The veteran forward was a recent guest on former NHLer Luke Gazdic’s Mitts Off podcast and talked about his potential fit in Edmonton.
“Of course, it would be awesome to play with McDavid,” Brown said. “He’s going to win a Cup eventually, and as a player that’s what I want to do. I want to win – winning is a big priority in where you’re going to land.”
McDavid and Brown are also both represented by the same agent, Jeff Jackson. The 29-year-old winger leaves DC without recording a single point in a Capitals uniform. His last “healthy” season came in 2021-22 with the Senss. He tallied 39 points (10g, 29a) in 64 games.
With Brown signing in Edmonton, the Caps added Max Pacioretty in free agency to likely fill the same role.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
