Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart last week on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Power Play segment. There, he was asked about what the Edmonton Oilers will do over the next couple of months in the offseason.
(Segment was recorded before they acquired Isaac Howard from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Sam O’Reilly)
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Anthony Stewart: “The Edmonton Oilers have been a little bit stagnant for a little lack of better words. But we obviously know there’s some cap restraints, but I’m sure Stan Bowman and company have something up their sleeves. What do you see them doing over the next day, week, month, or couple of months over the offseason?”
NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers Continue to Look for Goaltending
Dave Pagnotta: “Well, Stewie, they want to add. They were looking at trying to see if they can add a little more offense up front to give them some extra secondary scoring punch within that roster.
And I know everybody kind of wonders about goaltending as well. What’s going to happen with that? They keep telling everyone they’re confident with their duo. We’ll see what happens there.
But they don’t have, excuse me, they have been looking at trying to see what creative options may be available to them. And now, we start to see with certain teams a relatively shallow free agent pool. So you want to look at alternative options to see what may be available to you via the trade market, and get get kind of engaged in that respect.
They moved out (Viktor) Arvidsson (July 1st) to Boston. They freed up an extra $4 million in space. That gives them just over $4.5 million altogether. They have a little bit more to play with.
They’ve got a couple guys that are eligible to be sent down without waivers, so it gives them a little extra flexibility, but an extra $2 million. But I still think that if they can add some extra punch, secondary punch to that lineup, so they can spread things out a little bit better, I think that’s what they’d like to do.”
NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins – Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust
NHLRumors.com Note: The Edmonton Oilers signed Andrew Mangiapane before the July 4th holiday in the United States. So that is another scoring punch for the Oilers. The Oilers have lost a lot of depth scoring these past two offseasons, including Corey Perry and Evander Kane this offseason. Not to mention Arvidsson, Skinner, Dylan Holloway, and others. They are looking to replenish that. The Oilers are still evaluating their goalie position as well as working on an extension for Connor McDavid. It is not as quiet an offseason in Edmonton as many thought it would be.
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