Oilers GM Ken Holland Eyeing One More Major Move Before Start of 2022-23

Aside from Jack Campbell, the Oilers are currently rostering an identical lineup for 2022-23 as the one that was swept by the Colorado Avalanche. While Campbell does make them a better team, the Oilers still need to insulate their team if they are going to take that next step.

Relying heavily on Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane for offense, GM Ken Holland reportedly has one more massive name on his list, per Frank Seravalli: Patrick Kane.

Patrick Kane might be the only player in the NHL who can put together a horrible season on a terrible team and still end up with 92 points.

Acquiring Kane would be a grand-slam home run for Holland. The Oilers already have one of the best offenses in the league, so adding Kane would give them the NHL's best, no question. The elephant in the room here is cap space, so let us examine that.

[ CapFriendly.com ]

$6 million over the salary cap, there is no question Holland would have to perform some surgery, but the undertaking is much more manageable than first glance suggests. First off, the Oilers are likely starting the season with Mike Smith and Oscar Klefbom on LTIR, which provides $6.4 million in relief. So right away, they have $300,000 in cap space.

Next, the notion of a Tyson Barrie trade has been tossed around, which would provide an additional $4.5 million for Holland to spend. That makes the number of available cap space right around $4.8 million. Patrick Kane carries $10.5 million cap-hit. The maximum salary one team can retain via trade is 50%, and teams can only retain salary twice per contract. Meaning, even if Chicago retains half of Kane's contract, Edmonton still needs to find an extra $725,000 to make it work. There is always the option of involving a third team, paying them a draft pick in order to retain another 25% of Kane's contract, making the total amount Edmonton would have to pay him $2.625 million.

Like I said, it would take some serious surgery to make it happen, but it is very doable. Assuming, of course, Kane waives his full no-move clause, which is probably going to harder to pull off than facilitating the trade in the first place.

If Holland is able to pull off a Patrick Kane trade, he will be a shoe-in for GM of the Year, as the Oilers could break the goals-for record set by the Florida Panthers in 2021-22.

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