Oilers will have to sacrifice up to 3 players after Jack Roslovic signing
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With the recent signing of free agent Jack Roslovic, Edmonton Oilers' head coach Kris Knoblauch has a number of difficult roster decisions to make before tonight's game against the Canucks, and beyond.
Roslovic was signed to a one-year deal with a cap hit of $1.5M, which must now be accounted for when the Oilers build an active 23-man roster.
Oilers head coach prepared to cut at least three players from roster
In a recent article by The Athletic Kris Knoblauch commented on the roster-dilemma:
Regardless, the Oilers will have to remove at least three players. They'll ditch four by the time Hyman returns if they want to accrue cap space.
KNOBLAUCH: We've got at least one defenceman and probably two forwards that we've got to make a very difficult decision. We'll have to get to that point eventually.
KNOBLAUCH: We've got at least one defenceman and probably two forwards that we've got to make a very difficult decision. We'll have to get to that point eventually.
The fact that defenseman Jake Walman is on the IR to make room for Roslovic allows for his $1.5M cap hit; but that only delays the inevitable for about a week.
When Walman returns to the lineup, the Oilers will have 26 roster players, 3 more than an active roster permits. Yet, there are several other complications to the roster that Knoblauch must also consider.
Mattias Janmark and Zach Hyman will return to the lineup in the next three weeks. According to PuckPedia Edmonton is more than $2.8M into the LTIR threshold, which the Oilers must get below before Zach Hyman is activated.
What doe all this mean? Well, Curtis Lazar and Troy Stecher, both of whom missed Wednesday's practice, will not be on the roster for tonight's game against the Canucks.
Moving forward, also look for Janmark, Emberson and Noah Philip to be tapped by the head coach as the odd-man-out, with the possibility of Ike Howard also, according to The Athletic
This kind of roster-juggling has become a reality in today's NHL, as teams attempt to maximize the team salary cap as best they can to put a contender on the ice.
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