The salary cap has become a lot harder to dance around, but the Vegas Golden Knights have already shown they’re willing to keep moving until they find an opening.
That matters for the Edmonton Oilers because the Knights, and before them the Tampa Bay Lightning, built championship teams while blowing past the cap on the way to Stanley Cup wins. People complained then, and some probably still do now. None of that changes the fact that those names are on the Cup forever.
What changes is the league’s toolkit. The NHL has tightened the rules around postseason salary cap compliance, which means the old tricks are no longer as simple as stashing a player and waiting for the right moment. The Mark Stone back-door route, as the source puts it, is not the easy answer anymore.
Even so, Vegas still looks like a team that will sort it out. The Golden Knights are about $8.6 million over the salary cap with the season set to begin in less than two months, but the expectation is that they’ll find a way to make the numbers work.
One likely piece of the puzzle is Alex Pietrangelo, who is expected to remain on long-term injured reserve through the final year of his contract. That would put Vegas at roughly $200,000 below the upper limit.
Pietrangelo’s issue has already kept him out of a lot of important games, so there’s no real question about whether it’s legitimate. If he gets himself back into playing shape during the regular season, then the cap maneuvering likely shifts to the NHL Trade Deadline.
The league has made progress in trying to shut these doors. The goal of the cap was always to narrow the gap between big-money teams and everyone else, and the latest change - the removal of the double retention option - is another step in that direction. That move would have helped the Oilers with the Trent Frederic acquisition if it had been in place earlier.
In Other News...
Former Oilers Blueliner Is Still Fighting For His NHL Future
Several former Maple Leafs are still waiting to see whether an NHL opportunity opens up before the 2026-27 season, and one of the names in that group will be familiar to Oilers fans. Ben Hutton, Ryan Reaves, Michael Bunting, Calle Jarnkrok, John Klingberg and Matt Benning remain unsigned free agents as the Maple Leafs are expected to stand pat after a disappointing 2025-26 campaign, leaving a handful of veterans in limbo as the market settles.
For Edmonton, Benning is the most relevant of that bunch, since the former Oilers blueliner is still trying to extend his NHL future. The article notes that Toronto is not expected to make another move before next season, which only tightens the path for players on the outside looking in, and Bennings case now sits alongside a few other familiar names whose recent performances will have to persuade another club that they still belong. [Read more 🡒]
Six Current Oilers Share A Forgotten Hlinka Gretzky Cup Connection
The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is coming back to Edmonton from Aug. 3 to 8, bringing some of the best under-18 players in the world to a city that has seen plenty of elite hockey before. For Oilers fans, the tournament also serves as a reminder that the event is more than a development showcase, because several current Edmonton players once skated in it on their way toward the NHL.
Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Murphy and Evan Bouchard are among the six Oilers with that connection, and each one has a different piece of Hlinka Gretzky history attached to his path. The tournament has been a useful early marker for NHL talent for years, and Edmontons current roster quietly reflects how often that stage has overlapped with eventual big-league success. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Still Have One Obvious Fit If Vancouver Changes Course
Brock Boesers name has resurfaced in trade chatter after a summer extension and a round of organizational change in Vancouver, where the Canucks now appear to be weighing ways to trim payroll. Boesers no-movement clause gives him control, but if both sides find common ground, the conversation could shift quickly around a player who has long been viewed as one of the more recognizable pieces in the market.
For Edmonton, the fit is easy to see if Vancouver ever decides to move on. The Oilers are one of the teams that would naturally circle such a scenario, even with Ottawa and Philadelphia also mentioned as possible destinations, because a player of Boesers profile would instantly become one of the more interesting names available. For now, though, it remains a question of whether Vancouver truly changes course and whether the market ever gets the chance to react. [Read more 🡒]