The last remaining bad contract from the Oilers was jettisoned on draft day when the Edmonton Oilers swung a deal with Arizona, for the first time since 2017 when they sent Mitch Moroz to Arizona for Henrik Samuelsson.
I always had a feeling Kassian would be moved to Arizona, simply in a different way. Holland was able to swing a trade to Arizona where the Oilers swapped first round picks with Arizona and moved down to the 32nd pick from the 29th pick (the 32nd pick was actually Colorado’s which Arizona had acquired when they moved Darcy Kuemper to the Avs last trade deadline), then sent Kassian along with a 2025 second round pick and a 2024 third round pick along with Kassian to Arizona.
At first blush this seems like a bit of a steep price to pay for moving Kassian’s contract, but considering other teams have sent Arizona first round picks to get take on bad contracts the Oilers got off easy here. It’s also worth noting this negotiation has Holland’s style of trade written all over it – he paid a steep price but mitigated it somewhat by making the picks future picks rather than anything in this draft (outside of the obvious swap of first rounders) or next year.
The Oilers then selected Reid Schaefer at 32, a power forward with size from Spruce Grove who’s ecstatic to be a future Edmonton Oiler if he can cut the mustard in future training camps.
This trade accomplished a big goal of Holland to free up cap space. Kassian was taking space in the lineup from more deserving players simply due to his cap hit, and he seems to have been infected with Dustin Penner syndrome, being invisible on the ice for long stretches of the season and the playoffs. Kassian did OK in the regular season, putting up 6-13-19 in 58 games with a +2. However, his performance took a bit of a nosedive in the playoffs. His boxcars were OK as he went 2-2-4 in 16 games, However his +/- dipped to a -2.
Fortunately in Arizona he won’t have to worry about his performance dipping in the playoffs as Arizona won’t sniff the playoffs as a franchise for quite some time. Kassian as a player was seemingly cooked as he’s lost a stride in recent years, and as a result his offence has dried up as he’s played the last couple of seasons on the fourth line. Even his trademark physical play has gone invisible for large stretches of time. Kassian better revive his career in Arizona because once the two years remaining on his deal are up no one will take him on, even at typical fourth liner rates. He may be forced to go play pro hockey in the British hockey league.
Why the British league? The British league loves it’s enforcers and their league is basically based around physical play. You’ll make peanuts for money but it’s a lot of fun for guys like Kassian who love the rough stuff. Other former NHL players have already been there, done that. Most of the European leagues play a finesse style of hockey, but not the Brits.
Anyway, with this move Holland has now freed up $3.2 million in cap space, which he sorely needed especially if he still wants to bring back Evander Kane, which it seems like he does.
He can sign a litany of guys to take Kassian’s spot in the lineup for cheap. I wouldn’t even want to speculate at this point as there’s simply too many candidates to consider.