sniffed around Mikko Rantanen<\/a> before last year\u2019s deadline, and that info came out right around the deadline.<\/p>\nSo, is there a realistic chance the Oilers could swing a blockbuster deal to help save the season? Let\u2019s take a deeper dive to see what\u2019s possible\u2026<\/p>\n
Do the Oilers have the cap space?<\/p>\n
Cap space will be one of the most important things to keep in mind in any major trade the Oilers are involved in.<\/p>\n
As it stands, things are very tight with just a measly $200,000 in cap space after trading for Murphy. That will not be nearly enough to even add a player making the NHL minimum. But that isn\u2019t expected to stay the same for long.<\/p>\n
The Oilers are expected to offload Andrew Mangiapane\u2019s $3.6-million cap hit at some point in the near future. Once they accomplish that, along with Mattias Janmark going on LTIR, the team will have around $2.65-million cap space to play around.<\/p>\n
That helps, but it still doesn\u2019t open up enough space to make a move for a really impactful player. Assuming 50 per cent salary retention, the max cap hit the Oilers can fit with this much space is $5.3 million.<\/p>\n
The only way to up that number is to shed even more salary off the current roster, but who could they do that with?<\/p>\n
What assets could the Oilers trade?<\/p>\n
To make a blockbuster deal, you must give to receive.<\/p>\n
There are a few obvious assets that the Oilers could dangle in a big-name trade, but they are primarily futures. Edmonton still possess both its 2026 second and third round draft picks as well as its 2027 first-round pick. Those will likely be the most valuable draft picks at their disposal.<\/p>\n
They also have a few intriguing young players that could entice a team, like Isaac Howard, Matt Savoie, Josh Samanski, and Quinn Hutson. Those players, along with the draft picks, could form a solid package that has the potential to constitute a pretty good return.<\/p>\n
The only issue is that moving all those assets still won\u2019t do much to open up additional cap space. To do that, Edmonton would have to take a look at moving some other roster players.<\/p>\n
Adam Henrique and his $3-million cap hit could be a potential candidate, but his no-movement clause (NMC) would make things difficult. Trent Frederic\u2019s $3.85-million cap hit is another option, but the term and NMC are hurdles.<\/p>\n
If we wanna talk big-time cap relief, the only plausible option is Darnell Nurse and his monstrous $9.25-million cap hit. His name has started to be whispered in trade speculation, but, once again, his NMC makes things difficult.<\/p>\n
Lower cap hit candidates to move could include Kasperi Kapanen ($1.3 million), Ty Emberson ($1.3 million), or Spencer Statsney ($800,000).<\/p>\n
Potential blockbuster targets?<\/p>\n
The Oilers will be limited in their scope of blockbuster trade targets because of their cap situation, but there are still some potential targets.<\/p>\n
If we are under the assumption that the Edmonton Oilers can only move out Mangiapane\u2019s deal to clear up cap space, the Oilers can target any player with a cap hit of $5.3 million or lower, as long as they get 50 per cent retention.<\/p>\n
Impact players who may be available in and around that price-point include:<\/p>\n
Blake Coleman (LW, Calgary Flames) \u2013 $4.9 million
\nVincent Trochek (C, New York Rangers) \u2013 $5.6 million
\nRasmus Ristolainen (D, Philadelphia Flyers) \u2013 $5.1 million
\nRyan O\u2019Reilly (C, Nashville Predators) \u2013 $4.5 million
\nJonathan Marchessault (RW, Nashville Predators) \u2013 $5.5 million
\nJake DeBrusk (LW, Vancouver Canucks) \u2013 $5.5 million
\nBoone Jenner (C, Columbus Blue Jackets) \u2013 $3.75 million<\/p>\n
If Edmonton can swing a way to get a contract like Henrique or Frederic off the books as well, that could add names like Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Nazem Kadri, Dougie Hamilton, MacKenzie Weegar, and Brock Boeser to the list of potential targets.<\/p>\n
With the deadline so close, it feels unlikely that this type of move is in the cards for the Oilers, but things change quickly this time of the year. Only time will tell if the Oilers can pull the trigger on a bigger deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could the Edmonton Oilers be sitting on a blockbuster in the days leading up to the trade deadline?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-514556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}