Oilers Roster Set

Oilers Opening Night Roster Set

As of last night at 5 PM MST, NHL teams had to submit their opening day rosters and ensure they were cap compliant in order to avoid any sort of penalty. The Oilers were one of the last teams to have their submitted roster confirmed. According to Capfriendly.com, the Oilers’ final roster of 21 players looks as follows.

11 Forwards

Kane-McDavid-Brown

RNH-Draisaitl-Hyman

Foegele-McLeod-Holloway

Janmark-Ryan

8 Defensemen

Nurse-Bouchard

Broberg-Ekholm

Kulak-Ceci

Niemelainen-Desharnais

2 Goalies

Campbell

Skinner

Why only 11 Forwards?

According to CapFriendly, the Oilers, with only a 21-man roster, have only $395,000 in cap space. A league minimum player costs $775,000, so there is no way the Oilers could fit another body on this roster. This is why Lavoie was sent down to the minors through waivers— the Oilers simply didn’t have room.

Why didn’t they just send down Niemelainen?

Sending down Nemo seems like the best option. It reduces your defense to 7 skaters instead of 8, allowing you to keep Lavoie in your lineup with 12 forwards. It may seem like a straightforward plan, BUT Nemo is currently injured, which means the Oilers are not allowed to send him to the minors. Unfortunately, he must stay on the roster.

Ok, not Nemo then why not Desharnais?

Just like Lavoie, Desharnais would also have had to go through waivers to be sent to the minors in order to make the Oilers a cap-compliant team. I believe that Desharnais is not a player the Oilers want to risk losing right now on waivers. He played almost half a season’s worth of games last year (Lavoie has played 0 NHL games), so even though Oiler fans may value Lavoie more, I think Oilers management values Desharnais more and was willing to risk losing Lavoie to keep him. There was probably a higher likelihood of Desharnais getting claimed than Lavoie on waivers as well.

Also, currently injured for the Oilers are Ekholm, Kulak, and Niemelainen. Out of the 8 defensemen on the roster, only 5 are healthy. It is expected that Ekholm should be good to go for opening night. This would make 6 healthy defensemen and 11 forwards on the roster with no room for a call-up. If Kulak is good to go, then the Oilers could dress a full 18-man roster and go 11-7. If not, they will have to go 11-6 and play a man short.

If the Oilers chose to send down Desharnais and Kulak isn’t ready to go, then the Oilers would have to run 12-5, or have a forward playing defense, and that’s a headache nobody wants to deal with.

So

So, the Oilers are in a salary cap predicament with no easy escape. Until bodies can get healthy, the Oilers have to hope no one else gets injured. They are handcuffed by the cap as they begin their journey for glory tomorrow in Vancouver where it is likely we see the Oilers start the season with an 11-7 lineup. Look for McDavid/Draisaitl to get some reps in with Holloway as they rotate through centers against Vancouver.