A flat cap will give the Edmonton Oilers headaches
Allan Mitchell of The Athletic: The flatting of next season’s salary cap at $81.5 will give the Edmonton Oilers and many other teams a headache.
Top pending free agents may look for short-term deals.
Oilers UFAs like Mike Smith and Riley Sheahan might not like the offers that Oilers GM Ken Holland may be forced to offer.
RFAs like forward Andreas Athanasiou and Matt Benning have some control, but the Oilers could have to be choose one of the two or let someone else walk.
The Oilers won’t be able to bring all their free agents back as they’ll have less than $9.5 million in cap space – Smith, Sheahan, Athanasiou, Benning, Mike Green, Tyler Ennis and Patrick Russell.
Trading or buying out Kris Russell, Alex Chiasson, and/or James Neal would save them some money. Russell has cap hit is $4 million with a $1.5 million salary and a 15-team no-trade list. Chiasson has some trade value and could save them $1 million if dealt. A Neal buyout would save them $3.8 million this year but cost around $2 million through 2026.
Brent Seabrook’s contract going to hinder the Chicago Blackhawks even more now
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Blackhawks 35-year old defenseman Brent Seabrook has a $6.875 million for the next four seasons is a big hit to the team.
The signing bonuses basically make the contract pointless to buy out. Seabrook’s deal also contains a full no-movement clause through 2022 and he’d need to be protected for the Seattle expansion draft. Forward Alex Nylander or defenseman Lucas Carlsson may have to be left unprotected.
Teams are not expected to be able to do a compliance buyout this offseason due to the flatting of the salary cap.
It’s not going to be easy for pending free agents to get the big deals that they may have been hoping for.
