The Edmonton Oilers wasted little time making moves during this offseason to prepare for another run at the Stanley Cup in 2025. When free agency opened on July 1, acting general manager Jeff Jackson signed forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner and re-signed the checking line of Connor Brown, Adam Henrique, and Mattias Janmark.
Those moves put the Oilers over the $88 million salary cap by $2.5 million. On July 2, The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman suggested the Oilers had to make a cost-cutting trade. He suggested Evander Kane, Cody Ceci, Brett Kulak, or Ryan McLeod could become trade candidates.
The Oilers shipped McLeod to the Buffalo Sabres along with minor-leaguer Tyler Tullio for prospect center Matt Savoie on July 5. However, Nugent-Bowman’s colleague Allan Mitchell pointed out they’ll need to free up $3 million to accommodate signing restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.
Mitchell speculates Kane could end up on long-term injury reserve to start the season to recover from a suspected hip injury. Otherwise, the Oilers will have to make another trade to free up cap room or send three low-cost depth players to the minors and start the season with a 20-man roster.
