The moves continue for the Edmonton Oilers as Peter Chiarelli continues to shape his roster. Today, the team has placed F Lauri Korpikoski on waivers for the purpose of a buyout.
Korpikoski came to the Oilers exactly one year ago today in exchange for Boyd Gordon, a trade that never worked out for Edmonton. While Korpikoski provided more offense than Gordon, he struggled mightily defensively and was a huge liability on the ice for the Oilers. Possession wise, he was one of the worst players in the entire NHL last season.
The move also saves Edmonton some money on the salary cap. While the team will have a $1 million hit in 2017-18, they are gaining $2 million in cap space for the upcoming season. That is space that will likely be used to bring in more help defensively. According to General Fanager, the team will pay only a $500,000 cap hit this season for buying the forward out.
With Korpikoski gone, the Oilers depth chart currently looks as follows:
TBA – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Nail Yakupov
Patrick Maroon – Leon Draisaitl – Jesse Puljujarvi
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Iiro Pakarinen
Anton Lander, TBA
Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera – TBA
Brandon Davidson – Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse
Cam Talbot
TBA
How Edmonton uses this cap space remains to be seen, but it’s safe to say that there is more to come.
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