The Edmonton Oilers are “continuing to pursue all trade options for (Jesse) Puljujarvi,” TSN’s Ryan Rishaug tweeted Monday.

From an informal skate, Rishaug reported that it’s “the most obvious move to clear out some cap space.”

We’ve talked about this at length this offseason, so I don’t really have much more to add other than this:

The truth of the matter is that Puljujarvi’s new one-year, $3-million contract is really a value deal. Projections for a new deal for him suggested he’s worth in the $5-million range, although his actual value isn’t as high.

He was an incredibly effective player for the Oilers last season and a COVID-19 infection and ankle injury seriously impacted the second half of his season.

Edmonton’s easiest path to clearing the salary needed to sign Ryan McLeod is trading Warren Foegele for nothing.

Rishaug also reported it’s unlikely the Oilers are unlikely to trade defenceman Tyson Barrie.

This isn’t too big of a surprise. If they were to trade him to save cap space, it was more likely to have happened in the offseason when there’s a lot more player movement. He’s in the second year of a three-year deal paying him $4.5-million.

Depending on how the season shakes out, Barrie could be a guy the Oilers look to move at the deadline.

I’m curious to see how the Oilers utilize Ryan Murray on the backend. To me, it makes sense for him to be the 3RD for the Oilers over Barrie, but we’ll see what happens in the coming week.

A small note here, but Philip Broberg was seen playing on the right side of the defence Monday. @bcurlock on Twitter, whose opinion I value highly on a lot of the Oilers prospects, tweeted that Dave Manson never shied away from rearguards playing on their offside in Bakersfield. This should be an interesting one to monitor given the Oilers right-side is solid with Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard and Tyson Barrie all there.

Habs GM Kent Hughes made the announcement early in the day at the team’s annual golf tournament in Laval, Quebec. Brendan Gallagher and Joel Edmundson were named alternate captains.

Suzuki succeeds Shea Weber as captain of the club.

The Colorado Avalanche made news Monday morning signing free agent forward Evan Rodrigues. As I wrote on DailyFaceoff this morning, this is a slam dunk depth move for the Avs.

Rodrigues had career highs in goals, assists and points last season and has posted strong underlying numbers throughout his career.

He was a guy I would’ve loved to see the Oilers sign, but cap space was a clear issue.