Edmonton Oilers have enough cap space to make major trade deadline splash
The Edmonton Oilers are setting themselves up to be major players at next season’s trade deadline.
Fans of the franchise have grown used to the Oilers having little to no cap space at the trade deadline over the past several seasons. The lack of space often limited Edmonton from making a big splash.
Since 2023, the Oilers have only made one real play for a superstar-calibre player at the deadline, and that was acquiring Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators. Since then, they’ve had to settle for secondary pieces like Jake Walman, Adam Henrique, and Trent Frederic.
Those days, however, seem to be over as GM Stan Bowman has found a couple of ways to clear up a ton of space heading into the season. The biggest cap-clearing move was getting rid of the entirety of Darnell Nurse’s $9.25-million cap hit in a trade with the San Jose Sharks.Ā
After making all their major free agent signings, the Oilers are currently sitting with $5.9 million in available cap space. That may not seem like a ton, but if they can stick around that number and stay relatively healthy between now and the trade deadline, that space will increase by quite a bit.
According to PuckPedia, the Oilers are in line to accrue roughly up to $27 million at the trade deadline. That would be enough for Edmonton to fit just about any player made available on the trade market.
There are a few things to note about the situation. The number will likely come down throughout the season as the team deals with injuries. This also doesn’t mean the Oilers can skirt around cap rules in the playoffs, and will need to ice a cap-compliant roster under the league’s $104 million-ceiling once the postseason rolls around.
Bowman will also need to come up with the assets to include in any trade. Cap space alone is not enough to get a trade across the finish line.
Still, the Oilers are set to have a lot more cap flexibility than they’ve had in a very long time, which could lead to some fireworks in the Alberta capital around early March.
Getting the cap space is just one part of the equation for the Oilers. The real challenge will be making sure to utilize that space as effectively as possible and ensuring that the team doesn’t get thrown straight back into cap hell.