Reason for Oilers emergency roster move revealed by insider

Dermott, who was recently reclaimed by the Oilers after being placed on waivers by the Minnesota Wild, only played nine games for the team and did not record a point during his time in Minnesota.

Oilers Now producer Brandon Escott reported that Dermott is currently unavailable due to a personal matter. Had he been available for a roster move, he likely would've been called up over Dineen.

Yesterday at Oilers practice, Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak were both absent. Ekholm was taking maintenance and Kulak was reported to be ill, and with Darnell Nurse returning from injury, perhaps the Oilers need the insurance on the left side.

The 28-year-old defenceman Travis Dermott signed a two-way deal with the Oilers as he was on a PTO. That deal was worth $775,000 per season and he only played 10 games for the Oilers after being claimed by the Wild.

It's clear that general manager Stan Bowman may have made a hasty move by letting him go in the first place as the Oilers continue to remain around the cap limit with uncertainty around their trade deadline plans.

Dineen, who hasn't played in an NHL game since April 29, 2022, was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, third round 68th overall. In his previous season, he played 34 games, with seven assists and was a - 16.

Many NHL pundits feel that the Oilers will add at minimum a depth defenseman prior to the trade deadline as their last losing streak had shown the teams defence can be leaky at times and needs some upgrades.

The Oilers trade deadline plans are surrounded in question marks as the team may lose out on the ability to use Evander Kane's long term injury reserve money as he feels he is getting close to returning to the ice prior to the end of the season.

The Oilers have begun to explore the potential to trading Kane as they need his $5.125 million cap yet which would give them plenty to either add adept defenseman and potentially a secondary scoring winger or centre for their bottom six forwards.

With all that's been reported, there does not seem to be a concrete path for the Oilers for this trade deadline and many fans will need to wait and watch as the deadline approaches on Friday March 7th at 3:00 PM eastern.