Here is how much cap space Edmonton Oilers have after Evander Kane trade
The Edmonton Oilers have kicked off the offseason with a bang, and now the real work will get underway.
Oilers GM Stan Bowman made a surprise trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday morning, sending Evander Kane to the West Coast in exchange for a mid-round draft pick. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a significant win for Edmonton, as they traded away an impactful player for next to nothing, but the big victory comes in the form of cap space.
Somehow, the Oilers convinced the Canucks to take on the entirety of Kane’s final year, which carries a cap hit of $5.125 million. That opens up a significant amount of money for an Edmonton team that is looking to make quite a few changes to the roster.
Before the trade, Edmonton had just under $12 million in cap space, but with a large Evan Bouchard contract looming, that may have taken up $10 million of that. With Kane off the books, the cap situation is looking much better.
According to PuckPedia, the Oilers now have just over $17 million in cap space to make additional moves this summer.
After trading Kane & clearing $5.125M, #Letsgooilers have $17M projected cap space with 18 players (10F/6D/2G).
RFA: Bouchard
UFA: Frederic, Brown, Perry, Kapanen, Klingberg, Skinnerhttps://t.co/yEbKqdyYZU
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) June 25, 2025
That may not be the end of the Oilers clearing up cap space. Rumours have swirled in recent days that Edmonton is looking to trade Viktor Arvidsson as well. The Swedish forward is entering the final year of his current contract and carries a cap hit of $4 million.
Moving his contract off the books would give the Oilers about $21 million in cap space. If we assume that Bouchard’s next contract will clock in around $10 million and that Trent Frederic’s rumoured eight-year deal with an AAV of $3.85 million comes to fruition, that would put the remaining space around $3.2 million for any future moves.
Apart from Bouchard and Frederic, the Oilers may also decide to extend players like Connor Brown, Corey Perry, and Kasperi Kapanen. They also need to acquire a new goaltender somehow.
Moving Kane was a great move to open up the summer, but Bowman will have plenty more on his plate if he wants the Oilers to make a third-straight run to the Stanley Cup Final.