The Edmonton Oilers may have to look for centers on PTOs before camp and look for a trade in-season
Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal: Reported a week ago that the Edmonton Oilers and RFAs Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod are close and they still are. McLeod has an arbitration hearing on the 4th.
Continue to hear that they will both get done but number to get it done may have moved. Because of this the Oilers may have to look at bringing in some centers on PTOs instead of signing free agents.
Can see the Oilers looking to trade for a center during the season and players like Nic Dowd (two years at $1.3 with the Capitals) and Jake Evans (two years at $1.7 million with the Canadiens) could make sense.
The Pittsburgh Penguins still have some offseason items they could take care of this offseason
Rob Rossi of The Athletic: There are still some things that president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas can do before of the offseason is over.
There is the Erik Karlsson trade speculation, and it’s likely more to do with the San Jose Sharks and Karlsson than the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins are the only team who have interest in Karlsson who have not made any major roster moves of late but that may not mean those teams are out.
The Sharks can always just wait it out and try to make an in-season trade or wait until next offseason when the cap will be going up.
The Penguins will have a second buyout window if they get to arbitration with Drew O’Connor.
The Penguins are over the salary cap by about $1.5 million and they’ll need to make a move before the season starts. How the Karlsson situation rolls out could also change that number in either direction.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel is eligible for a contract extension. It’s not known if there have been any talks. Guentzel is turning 29 in October and it could take a long-term deal to keep the number down. The Penguins are already the oldest team and will they want to continue this trend?
The Penguins don’t have a GM at the moment and any hire wouldn’t have autonomy because of Dubas.
