The biggest hurdle for Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland if he wants to improve his team’s lot in life with the trade deadline four days away is his squeezed cap space, which may be a shade more than $500,000 at deadline time Monday.
They have Kyle Brodziak on long-term injury (back), which gives them a bit of cap relief but that’s it.
“Yeah, cap space is a concern. Connor (McDavid) isn’t going on LTI (long-term injury), neither is (Oscar) Klefbom (shoulder).Kass (Zack Kassian) is suspended and on our roster. Those things impact to a degree what we’re able to do,” said Holland, adding he may have to send somebody out to bring somebody in.
“Depends on how much is coming in.”
With the cap, it’s not like he has much wiggle room for a rental the likes of Conor Sheary in Buffalo, who is a $3 million cap hit but with $750,000 left. Or a trade for a player who has time left on his deal or an expiring restricted-free-agent, such as Andreas Athanasiou.
“You have to get awfully creative and the team you are talking to has to be willing to get creative too,” said Holland, whose projected cap space at deadline time will be $514,951 according to CapFriendly.com.
Holland feels he owes it to his Pacific Division-leading team to make a deal, having gone 12-4-3 in the new year), winning games without the likes of McDavid, James Neal, Kassian, Joakim Nygard, Klefbom and Kris Russell – four of his top-12 forwards and two of his six defencemen. But he won’t react to what other teams in the Pacific Division are doing.
“The day I took the job, I told everybody at the press conference that I hoped on March 1 that we’re playing important games, competing for a playoff spot,” Holland said. “We’re probably a little bit above that, but just a little bit. You can say we’re first place in the division, but we’re also five points from being out.
“How has it affected my thinking? I was a seller in Detroit the last three years, and I was a buyer at the deadline for many years. Would I like to do something? Yeah, you like to do something to pitch in.”
He says Jesse Puljujarvi, his best bargaining chip who is on a point-a-game pace at Karpat in the Finnish Elite League, doesn’t appear to be in play.
“I haven’t really shopped him and nobody’s really asked,” said Holland. “The guys in our locker-room, the players and coaches have worked extremely hard and put us in this position. But I would not trade a first-round draft pick for a rental.”
So, no Chris Kreider.
“If you’re talking a player who is unrestricted versus a player who has time left (under contract), certainly the players with time left command a greater price,” said Holland, who has talked with Steve Yzerman about Athanasiou, one of the league’s fastest skaters whose $3 mil contract is up July 1.
McDavid needs a left-winger, somebody with speed and maybe a third-line centre. Although Riley Sheahan’s play there with Josh Archibald may have put that aside for now.
But is there a bigger need?
“That’s fantasy hockey. Depends what’s available, what’s the cost? There’s not a whole bunch of wingers and a whole bunch of offensive centremen or defensive centres out there,” said Holland. “When I was hired to a five-year deal, I wanted what we’ve got here. I was proud of the program we built in Detroit but it took time. You have to draft and develop people. Some of the younger people have had a greater impact way quicker than I thought. So, I’m trying to decide over the next three or four days how active I’ll be.”
Trying to support Leon Draisaitl’s fantastic season and McDavid’s 100 points, as usual, obviously has a bearing on Holland, who has to weigh what he has to offer, which appears to be a second-round draft pick and a prospect defenceman not named Evan Bouchard or Philip Broberg.
“I don’t feel more pressure to do something because of Connor and Leon, because I’ve been a manager for 23 years and I had some talented players in Detroit too. But I do understand you only get so many opportunities. I’ll probably be disappointed if I’m not able to do something but I don’t know how big,” said Holland.
He may have to nibble around the edges because of his cap, but he’ll get somebody better than, say, Jerred Smithson.
“At the trade deadline, you’re either looking for a big piece or the right piece for the bottom six. Or you’re looking for depth if you’re going on a long playoff run, because you’ll lose players along the way with a playoff game every second night for two weeks, then you do it again.”
Connor McDavid will leave the wheeling and dealing to Holland, who’s pretty adept at it after more than two decades as a GM.
“There are times when you add a piece and he fits in perfect and times when you add a piece and sometimes he can hurt the chemistry on the team,” said McDavid. “It’s a tricky time of year for GMs.”
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