Big roster cuts likely for Oilers with activation of Jake Walman from LTIR

With the return to the lineup of these key players, changes will need to be made to maintain the 23-man active roster.

David Tomasek is the most likely to be affected by a Walman and Kapanen return. He's been linked to several reports of late that have the forward either being traded, or demoted to the AHL.

Tomasek has all but lost his spot on the bottom-6, having been a healthy scratch for 63% of Oilers' games, as per NHL.com.

A demotion would see most of Tomasek's $1.2M cap hit removed from the Oilers' books, with only $50K of AHL salary remaining. Also, he is not waiver-exempt and the easiest to move.

The Oilers need to make room for potential trades and don't have the cap space to do it.

Trent Frederic was signed to an 8-year deal at just less than $3.9 million annually. The physicality and secondary scoring he provided for the Bruins hasn't been available in Edmonton. He's been largely underwhelming.

If Stan Bowman can find a trade-partner for Frederic, they could save a substantial cap hit for a trade-deadline deal. Unfortunately, he does have a no-movement clause and would have to consent to a trade.

Alec Regula also is likely to be on the outside looking in once Walman is back in the lineup and could be placed on waivers and demoted to the AHL's Bakersfield Condors. Hi two-way contract facilitates such as transaction.