The Edmonton Oilers are as tight to the cap as many others, with two dollars under $66,000 in wiggle room.
Even with his entry-level contract salary, Dylan Holloway being on the LTIR means the club can’t accrue deadline cap space until he returns.
Much like they have for several years in this tight-cap world, they’re dollar in, dollar out for if, or when, they dip into the trade market. For example, any trade that might transpire with Jack Campbell will be precisely that.
And on Thursday, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli released his first rendition of Trade Targets for the season, detailing 20 players who could find themselves on the move.
The list features multiple Calgary Flames at the top, with Elias Lindholm (No. 1), Chris Tanev (No. 3), Nikita Zadorov (No. 4) and Noah Hanifin (No. 5) all at the top of the list.
Montreal Canadiens netminders Jake Allen and Cayden Primeau are coming in at No. 6, while another goaltender, the Detroit Red Wings’ James Reimer, is No. 10.
But a member of the Edmonton Oilers appeared on the list: Warren Foegele, slotting in the No. 14 spot.
Here’s what Seravalli wrote:
On the list of Oilers priorities, reimagining the bottom six forward group is there, but it’s probably below fixing the goaltending and adding another defender to help clean up their own end. In order to generate cap space to do any one of those things, Foegele sticks out like a sore thumb on Edmonton’s cap table. Yes, he can reliably produce double digit goals and 25-30 points, but his game is similar in many respects to others around him in the lineup and he makes significantly more. Simply put, if the Oilers have to move money around, Foegele is one of the top candidates.
Foegele, 27, carries a $2.75-million cap hit, and is slated to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Through the season’s first quarter, he’s arguably been the Oilers’ most consistent forward, with his eight points, three of which being goals, sixth among all forwards on the team.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
