{"id":825534,"date":"2026-07-25T16:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T16:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/825534\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T16:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T16:24:09","slug":"why-accruing-21-million-in-cap-space-isnt-realistic-for-the-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/825534\/","title":{"rendered":"Why accruing $21 million in cap space isn\u2019t realistic for the Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, we are fully entrenched in the dog days of the NHL off-season, and on top of that, my beloved Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> are past the point of breaking my heart. They\u2019ve ripped it out and are continually stomping on it on a nightly basis.<\/p>\n

Between there being no fun Oilers news to discuss, baseball not fulfilling any of my sports fandom needs, and the historic amounts of rain killing a good chunk of our prime golf season\u2026 it hasn\u2019t been a great summer for me so far!<\/p>\n

But you\u2019re not here to listen to my own self-pity; you\u2019re here to read about the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One topic that is still getting people going online is the Oilers\u2019 current amount of cap space.<\/p>\n

Some have pointed out that if the Oilers were to simply go into the season with their current $4.7 million in cap space<\/a>, that cap space could accrue and by the time the trade deadline rolls around, they would have around $21 million in space to work with.<\/p>\n

In theory, that\u2019s a good idea, but there are some big flaws with that thinking.<\/p>\n

Oilers don\u2019t have the assets to use that much cap space<\/p>\n

First off, even if the season were to go perfectly and they had north of $20 million in available space at the deadline, which players would they even use that money on?<\/p>\n

The team doesn\u2019t have the assets to acquire $21 million worth of quality players. Could they go out and take on some bad contracts like Jonathan Huberdeau\u2019s in Calgary? I guess they could, but I\u2019m not sure I see the logic in a move like that.<\/p>\n

On top of that, there are the new playoff salary cap rules that came into effect last season, meaning that even if the Oilers acquired north of $20 million in players, they wouldn\u2019t be able to fit them into their game-day cap picture in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

It would be essentially pointless.<\/p>\n

If the Oilers could accrue around $8 million in cap space, then I could get behind that. That would be enough to go out and potentially acquire a premier rental, like maybe Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat, and actually fit them into their playoff cap picture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that they currently have $4.7 million in cap space with eight defencemen on their roster. Putting Spencer Stastney<\/a> on waivers would clear up an extra $1.2 million in cap space.Could Vladimir Tarasenko or Michael Bunting fit Edmonton\u2019s roster?I don\u2019t think the Oilers necessarily need to go out and waste their cap space just for the sake of it, but what would be wrong with bringing in a player like Vladimir Tarasenko<\/a> or even Michael Bunting on a one-year deal?<\/p>\n

Tarasenko would be a very intriguing fit because of the offensive upside. I would love to see the Oilers find a way to add a strong five-on-five scorer, and when looking at potential fits in their top six, it\u2019s important to take out power play production because there really isn\u2019t a lot of power play time to go around in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

Tarasenko scored a total of 16 goals at five-on-five last season, and over the last three seasons, he\u2019s averaged 14 five-on-five goals per year. That number would\u2019ve ranked him sixth on the Oilers last season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also a durable player, appearing in over 75 games in four of the last five seasons.<\/p>\n

Even if you need to overpay a little bit in order to keep the term to one year, it would be a win for the Oilers.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say they bring in a player making $3.5 million for next season and send down Stastney. In that scenario, they would still have around $2.4 million in cap space, and that would accrue to just under $10 million by the trade deadline if everything went according to plan.<\/p>\n

They could also send down Mattias Janmark and free up another $1.2 million if they needed to.<\/p>\n

I am not against the idea of saving some cap space for the deadline, but they don\u2019t need to accrue the amount that they currently have.<\/p>\n

They should still be open to the idea of adding another forward to the mix. Even if it doesn\u2019t work out, it won\u2019t hurt their chances of adding a player later down the line.<\/p>\n

GOLF WITH OILERSNATION PERSONALITIES!\"\"<\/p>\n

Ever wanted to hit the golf course with your favourite Nation personalities? Now\u2019s your chance! Bid now for an exclusive experience at the Nation Golf Tournament driven by GMC on Friday, August 28, 2026, at Mill Woods Golf Course, including a round of golf with your favs, a banquet meal, and an unforgettable day in support of Gregor\u2019s Grads.<\/p>\n

Bidding closes on July 31, 2026, at noon, so don\u2019t miss out. Place your bid now at nationgear.ca,<\/a> and we\u2019ll see you on the course!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, we are fully entrenched in the dog days of the NHL off-season, and on top of that,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-825534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825534","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=825534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}