The cap crunch is coming soon for the Edmonton Oilers with multiple players set to return from injury. Top line forward Zach Hyman has been on the long term injured reserve since the beginning of the 2025-26 National Hockey League season.
He is set to return to the lineup at some point this month and when he does, it will have major salary cap and roster ramifications (puckpedia.com). Although, he will be a welcomed addition to the team when he does return to play alongside captain Connor McDavid.
Along with him, both Mattias Janmark and Kasperi Kapanen are set to be activated off the IR anytime with Alec Regula being taken off on Tuesday. These moves will cause the Oilers to be over both the salary cap ceiling and 23-man roster limit.
Insider speculates the Oilers could make a trade
On his show, Frankly Hockey, NHL insider Frank Seravalli is quoted as saying "All eyes on the Oilers over these next five or six days". Adding "They will have too many forwards and too many defencemen, so they're going to need to sift through and decide who's on their way out".
Frank Seravalli: All eyes on the Oilers over these next 5 or 6 days; they will have too many forwards and too many defensemen, so they're going to need to sift through and decide who's on their way out - Frankly Hockey (11/4)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) November 4, 2025
This does not mean that they have to trade anyone but the recent report comes just days after the report by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast's intermission show Saturday Headlines. He said that teams were interested in Oilers veteran defenceman Troy Stecher, something that likely has not changed in the coming days.
When Hyman returns from LTIR, the Oilers will be nearly $2.8 million over the NHL salary cap ceiling and will have some tough decisions to make. They will need to create salary cap space on their roster by sending players down and possibly trading one or more.
Oilers trade candidates
There are a number of candidates to be sent down or traded like; Kasperi Kapanen, Mattias Janmark, Curtis Lazar, Ty Emberson, Stecher, and Alec Regula all possibly being on the periphery of the roster.
There is also the possibility that the team sends down one or more of; Ike Howard, Matt Savoie, and David Tomasek given their waivers exemption being rookies. As well, Jack Roslovic is a possible trade candidate as he has an interesting modified no-trade clause in his deal that started on November 1st that made him eligible to be dealt to a select few teams.
It will be interesting to see what transpires over the coming days as the Oilers are forced to make moves to keep their roster compliant. The Oilers are destined to have plenty of trade rumours circling their team this year and this is only the start.