Oilers set roster: Kane to LTIR, Dermott signed, salary cap maximized

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This in from Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic on a sequence of Edmonton Oilers roster moves that have taken place today:

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The series of moves was predictable, in fact we predicted it here at the Cult of Hockey earlier today:

• In the meantime, expect more news on the registration of the Cameron Wright contract with the league, his temporary addition to the roster to max out camp space, and then the designation of Evander Kane on LTIR. After that, other moves including the return of both Wright and Matt Savoie to Bakersfield for reasons explained here. Oil fans should also expect the signing of defenceman Travis Dermott to an NHL contract after what seems to have been a successful Professional Tryout in camp. These moves have to occur in a specific sequence to legalize everything.

That particular sequence allowed the Oilers to top out their salary cap ceiling at $87,999,947, just $53 below the official ceiling of $88,000,000. Key to that was the specific salary of $952,000 representing the NHL component of Wright’s brand new two-way deal, a figure clearly chosen for that purpose. His return to the AHL was always in the cards, where he is expected to earn $80,000 on the AHL side of that two-way deal.

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Savoie meanwhile was on the roster just long enough that his $1 million in bonuses can officially be assigned to next year’s bonus pool rather then being a potential drag on a mid-season recall.

The departure of that duo opens up almost $1.84 million in cap space, of which the Oilers immediately invested $775,000 in Dermott.

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That too is a two-way deal with a significant AHL component of $500,000, though don’t expect to see him in the AHL anytime soon. He will complete a seven-man defensive group that will open the season in Edmonton.

The 30-year-old rearguard is a left shot with the capacity to play both sides, ideal for a seventh defender on a squad otherwise equally split between lefties and righties. He has 329 games of NHL experience with Toronto, Vancouver and Arizona; moreover, he had past connections with Jeff Jackson (his former agent), Kris Knoblauch (his junior coach in Erie) and Oilers captain Connor McDavid (his teammate in Erie). We dug into Dermott’s background last month when his PTO was first announced.

Dermott’s addition to the roster leaves some $1.06 million in available cap space. Let’s assume no further moves for now, and the daily portion (1/192) of that amount will begin to accrue against the cap for future use. Note specifically the words in DNB’s tweet above, “The Oilers will accrue cap space because they’re below the cap hit they had when they placed [Kane] on LTIR.”

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A very different scenario than the Klefbom Years, those three seasons when the Oilers had to put injured d-man Oscar Klefbom on LTIR in advance simply to get the season opening roster under the cap. In 2024, they’ve been able to include Kane and his $5.125 million cap hit on that opening roster before designating him to LTIR thereafter. A hugely important distinction.

For now they can accrue cap space, with the upper limit set within a few bucks of absolute maximum. At such time as they run into injuries, they can access their LTIR reserves (essentialy, Kane’s $5.125 million) for replacement players, though they wouldn’t be able to accrue cap space in that scenario.

With all that done, the next order of business pertains to the possible return of Raphael Lavoie which could come at noon on Wednesday. GM Stan Bowman confirmed Edmonton’s continuing interest in the player in an interview with Jason Gregor on Sports 1440 on Tuesday afternoon.

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If the Oilers are the only team to claim Lavoie, they can immediately assign him to Bakersfield. Alternatively, they will have enough cap space on the roster to keep him in Edmonton, which would diminish their cap space to $177,053, which is to say $177,000 more than it would have been had they kept Lavoie yesterday and not executed the Wright manoeuvre.  It may not sound like that much in the big picture of NHL salaries, but that $177k correlates to $828,000 in incoming salary at the 2025 trade deadline.

All of which suggests that Oilers management has a very good handle on how to make the most of the hand they’ve been dealt with the Kane injury. Whether the actual team they’ve assembled is good enough is another question, one that will start being answered on the ice starting tomorrow. Let the games begin.

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