Oilers still need to cut one more veteran player as Kasperi Kapanen returns from injury

Troy Stecher was placed on waivers and Ike Howard was sent to the AHL today as Zach Hyman was activated from LTIR. The Oilers have a compliant roster for now, but also will be seeing the return of Kasperi Kapanen soon - forcing another move.

Oilers coach Knoblauch recently revealed that Kapanen will return from his injury around December 1st, roughly two weeks away.

According to experts at PuckPedia, when Kapanen is activated the Oilers will likely look to clear $1.1M to operate with the best cap structure, and using a 22-man roster. In that instance, cutting David Tomasek would be the Oilers' next move.

This seems to be the direction things are trending, as Tomasek has become a regular healthy scratch in recent weeks. He's fallen to a 4th line role, which players like Curtis Lazar and Noah Philp can fulfill at a cheaper price.

It's unfortunate for David Tomasek to find himself on the outside looking in after a strong start to the season. Playing in the top-six early this year, Tomasek had a ton of high danger scoring chances - but none found the back of the net. If even one of them had, maybe he wouldn't be in this position.

After 14 games with only 1 goal and 3 points, the free-agent signing bet on Tomasek doesn't look like it'll pay off for the Oilers.

After showing some decent talent with the Oilers, it's possible another team would pay a low-round draft pick to take on Tomasek. If not, the Oilers will likely send him to the AHL, or where he might leave to return to Europe.