Evander Kane’s Injury Plays a Role in Why Edmonton Can’t Make a Trade
Season Four’s Dave Pagnotta was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Steve Kouleas and Martin Biron and was asked about the Edmonton Oilers’ cap situation, why they haven’t added a defenseman, and if they might be looking to add more forward depth.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
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Martin Biron: I know the Oilers cap situation, I mean, they got (Connor) McDavid to sign next year. (Leon) Draisaitl is signed for $14 million through next season. But are they in the market right now to look to help them with their depth? Because you look at McDavid Draisaitl, maybe the top six is fine, but they have no depth at all. And they lost (Warren) Foegele. They lost (Ryan) McLeod. They lost Dylan Holloway. Like, they look deep? Deep down, maybe help them?
Dave Pagnotta: “I think Marty, I think they’re doing it from the perspective of due diligence. Their problem, frankly, is that if Evander Kane is going to return this season, that’s speculation. Therefore, they won’t be able to use him for just over $5 million in cap space, even though it was at LTIR; they won’t eat that if he comes back in the middle of the season. They must have space to bring him back.
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So, unfortunately, unless he faces a backlash, whether it’s through quotes or not, they won’t really be able to use that fund. And because of that, I mean, they don’t have an important space now, and, they have to be careful when Kane comes back.
So I think, I think Stan Bowman, like a lot of other GMs, is looking around to see what the options might be in the end. He mentioned Maatta’s deal in Kooly’s debut. That happened at night, but when the Durzi and Marino injuries happened in Utah, Bill Armstrong came out and started making calls about who could be available, what options there might be if we decided to do it.
And then a week later, okay, they pull the trigger, and they bring in Olli Maatta, who helps them out, and it helps Detroit open up a little bit of cap space on its own and get the back body out.
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So I think Bowman is currently doing that. You have to do that. What is possible is, at least to see what options may be available to him later, mainly from the deep side. They have also been looking at the green line. We all know that in the future it is possible to do later.
So this might complicate some things, but the biggest problem for them, frankly, in terms of the cap, is $5 million for Evander Kane and that they can’t use it to their advantage in terms of bringing in more bodies. So anything that has an effect will have to lead to someone leaving the list.”
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