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Might ex-Vancouver Giant Brett Kulak be a Vancouver Canucks target, now that the Edmonton Oilers are apparently resigned to trading him?
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Published Aug 15, 2024 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 4 minute read
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Dylan Holloway of the Edmonton Oilers, left, and defenceman Philip Broberg. Photo by Postmedia /prv
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One thing we know for sure is that the Vancouver Canucks, like every other team, are watching what the Edmonton Oilers are going to do with their pair of offer-sheeted youngsters.
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The clock is ticking on what Oilers president Jeff Jackson and GM Stan Bowman are going to do with Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, who both have signed offer sheets with the St. Louis Blues in their pockets.
The Oilers would rather keep both players under contract, but that may not be possible any longer, since the deals the duo signed on Tuesday have put the Oilers miles over the NHL salary cap — and Edmonton was already over the cap to begin with.
To keep even one of Broberg or Holloway, the Oilers are going to have to make a roster decision — they just don’t have any choice, even if they are able to start the season with Evander Kane on long-term injured reserve because of sports hernia surgery. Kane on LTIR would buy them some cap relief, but they would still either have to give up one of Holloway or Broberg, or make another trade to keep both.
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Postmedia insider Bruce Garrioch reported Thursday that the Oilers are prepared to trade one or both of Brett Kulak or Cody Ceci to clear enough cap space to keep one or both of Holloway and Broberg. Trading both would mean the Kane-to-LTIR consideration wouldn’t matter — not to mention the fact that putting Kane on LTIR would only buy them short-term relief, since once healthy, activating Kane would only put them back in the same pickle they are in now.
So trading both is the preference. And to no surprise, Garrioch reports there are a few teams interested in grabbing one of these now-surplus defencemen.
But making a deal won’t come easy for Edmonton — it’s certain they will have to pay a premium to their trade partner, likely a draft pick, to get out of the cap bind they’re currently in.
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The Vancouver Canucks could offer up an alternative. Rather than demanding a pick, they could ask Edmonton to take the Tucker Poolman contract off their hands. Poolman hasn’t played since January 2023 because of migraines and isn’t expected to play again.
If the Oilers were to pick up Poolman in a deal, they could park his contract on LTIR.
In exchange, you’ve got to think the Canucks might be interested in Kulak, rather than Ceci.
The former Vancouver Giant has built a steady NHL career, a good skater who plays smart hockey in his own end and showing enough puck savvy to be a depth contributor on offence.
He would be a marginal upgrade on the third pair over Derek Forbort, and he’s clearly an upgrade over current No. 7 defenceman Noah Juulsen.
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And to add Kulak to the roster, they would have to send Juulsen down to the minors anyway.
That move would create about $500,000 in cap space, not enough to add a player, but unused, that space would accrue over the course of the season. And the more you save up, the more space you have at the trade deadline to spend on reinforcements, something GM Patrik Allvin acknowledged as a limit on him making further deals at last season’s trade deadline — the Canucks were close to adding Chris Tanev, for instance, but couldn’t make a trade work in the end because they would have needed the Calgary Flames to retain part of Tanev’s salary.
Now, this advantage isn’t exactly something the Oilers would want to hand to Vancouver, even if taking Poolman’s dead contract in exchanged helped them manage their own cap situation. So you can imagine Edmonton asking for a bit of sweetener. Would Vancouver accept such a deal? Probably? After all, you rate a trade on which team gets the best player, and quite obviously the Canucks would get the best player in this scenario.
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The Oilers have until next Tuesday to decide what they are going to do with Broberg and Holloway. We’re sure to hear plenty more chatter about what might come.
pjohnston@postmedia.com
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/could-vancouver-canucks-help-edmonton-oilers-out-of-pickle