Oilers Solve Cap Concerns Without Need to Trade Jesse Puljujarvi

The Edmonton Oilers will be under the salary cap ceiling heading into the 5 pm hour on Monday when NHL teams need to officially finalize their opening night rosters. With a few moves in the final days leading up to the deadline, Edmonton was able to make a couple of adjustments to put themselves in a position to start the season under the cap. And, more transactions could be coming.

The good news for fans of The Bison King is that one move that likely won’t be coming is a trade that will see Jesse Puljujarvi leave the organization.

Leading up to Monday’s deadline, the Oilers made a few plays to get themselves cap compliant. The team traded Dmitri Samorukov to the St. Louis Blues for Klim Kostin. This move came around the same time Edmonton waived forward Devin Shore in a salary cap move.

As Puck Pedia points out, Brad Malone will likely stay on the roster for Monday’s submission which will put the team $7,116,835 over cap. But, by placing Oscar Klefbom, Mike Smith and Tyler Benson on LTIR, they will maximize their LTIR pool $7.117 million, with just $165 to spare.

Shore on waivers confirms our #LetsGoOilers Projected Roster from weeks ago.

Malone will stay on for tomorrow's submission & team is $7,116,835 over cap, setting that as LTIR pool. That's $165 less than max potential LTIR for Klefbom/Smith/Benson $7.117Mhttps://t.co/PTg6VwN80b

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 9, 2022

Are there other moves the Oilers could make? Perhaps they’ll sign Jason Demers who was on a PTO with the team. I reached out to Puck Pedia and asked how that would work and their response was, “If they were to sign him, he’s likely signed and immediately waived for the purposes of AHL assignment so he won’t count against the cap.” In other words, it’s certainly possible and the Oilers did value what he brought to the team during camp.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet also reports, “Likely Oilers swap out Broberg for Niemelainen on Tuesday. The big Finn won the job at camp. Broberg flat out lost it.”

What About Jesse Puljujarvi?

These moves mean Puljujarvi is staying put, at least for now. The Oilers aren’t in a cap crunch situation where there’s a dire need to move him ahead of Monday’s deadline. That said, if he performs well and ups his value and thus creates a trade market for his services, this is something GM Ken Holland might consider. At the same time, if Puljujarvi starts the year off well, he’ll get opportunities to play in an elevated role and could cement himself a spot on this Oilers’ roster.