Oilers Reportedly Actively Shopping 2 Forwards

Evander Kane & Viktor Arvidsson, Edmonton Oilers

While the Edmonton Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final in two consecutive seasons, they made a decent amount of changes last offseason and appear to be on track to do so again. Every team needs tweaking, but with upcoming contracts and the team needing to get younger, Stan Bowman can now put a bigger mark on the team that starts ahead of free agency opening.

According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Oilers are actively shopping Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson. The latter has been open to being traded for a while and it makes sense considering the limited playing time and games he got in the playoffs.

Kane has a 16-team no-trade clause with one year left on his contract at $5.125 million AAV and Arvidsson has a full no-move clause with one year left at $4 million AAV. It shouldn't be too difficult for the Oilers to move either one of the veteran forwards, especially with Arvidsson looking to cooperate and find a new team to play for.

Kane provides scoring and physicality while Arvidsson provides speed and offensive production as well. Kane is more of a fit in Edmonton even though he doesn't get top power-play time, but Arvidsson never seemed to fit in this season and it showed clear as day.

The Oilers have $12 million in projected cap space to sign RFA Evan Bouchard and deal with a number of UFAs that include Corey Perry, Trent Frederic, Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen, Jeff Skinner, and John Klingberg. There's a very likely chance the last two names are gone, but I expect even more of a shakeup with the players in the system ready for full time NHL roles.

I don't expect the Oilers to have to pay to move either Kane or Arvidsson this offseason and it would free up a big $9 million to use. Bouchard is expected to get north of $9 million and Frederic is closing in on a deal between $3.5-4 million AAV. Kane was injured the entire regular season and was alright in the playoffs. Arvidsson only played 15 playoff games for the Oilers and averaged under 12 minutes per game. It is time both are moved on from along and it will be interesting not only where they go, but what Edmonton gets for them as well.