With San Jose making their playoff exit on Tuesday, focus has now shifted to the team’s off-season aims. One of them: dealing away veteran winger Martin Havlat.

From the Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami (via Lyle Richardson):

Kawakami is actually mistaken on the buyout amount – despite his cap hit Havlat is owed $11 million in actual salary over the next two seasons, meaning that a buyout would actually cost $7.33 million.

Havlat’s contract also originally included a no-trade clause which he waived to join the Sharks; it’s unclear whether that clause is still in effect or is negated by that trade.

One of the difficulties for the Oilers this summer is what to do with Ales Hemsky. The long-time Oiler has a deserved reputation for being injury prone, is seen as likely on the way out as the Oilers attempt to upgrade their size, and has a contract (paying $5 million next season) that may make it difficult to trade him and get value back.

The big disadvantage to bringing Havlat in to replace Hemsky is the extra year on his contract, but there are some advantages that may offset that. For one, he’s much bigger than Hemsky, being listed at 6’2”, 210 pounds. For another, the left-shooting winger generally plays right wing but has played left wing earlier in his career, so he may be a better positional fit. He has also been relatively healthy the last few years, playing 83% of his team’s games over the last five seasons, though he’s currently on the shelf with a lower body injury.

In a straight 1-for-1 trade, the extra year on Havlat’s contract is too much of a disadvantage to compensate for his advantages over Hemsky. But if San Jose was willing to sweeten the pot a little – perhaps by retaining some of that second year salary or by including something else (they have three second round draft picks), is it a deal that could make sense for the Oilers?

It really depends what other options the Oilers have; likely, this would be too much of a lateral move to make sense, particularly if they have a chance at a player like Nathan Horton in free agency.

Justin Azevedo lists Compliance Buyout Candidates for the Western Conference over at NHL Numbers; which three names does he have in mind as potential Oilers buyouts?

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