Oilers forward's future in jeopardy after healthy scratch for minors grinder

Tomasek has been scratched repeatedly in recent weeks, but now has reached a new low with Max Jones entering the lineup over him. If he's below Jones in the team's depth chart, a move off the roster isn't far away.

At the end of the day, the Oilers can't be regularly healthy scratching a $1.2M player for the rest of the season. If they see Jones as a better fit for the 4th line, they need to take the savings and somehow cut Tomasek.

There'd be multiple ways to clear Tomasek's contract, so it shouldn't be so difficult for the Oilers to do.

Multiple other teams were interested in signing Tomasek before he joined the Oilers, and they may still have interest and belief he can find his way on another team. At the beginning of the season, Tomasek had some good showings in the top six.

It's also possible his contract is terminated entirely if he can pursue an opportunity back in Europe. That's usually the case with free agents who don't catch on.

The final option would be sending Tomasek down to the AHL, where the Oilers should be able to bury most of his cap hit anyway.

Hopefully the Oilers can find a way to get an asset back for Tomasek, because he does look like he could be a successful NHLer in another environment.