Offer sheets in Edmonton: Kent Hughes may come to Stan Bowman’s rescue

Things are (finally) moving in the National League.

The Blues have tabled an offer sheet for two Oilers players (Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg), which makes things interesting.

Especially when you consider the financial situation in Edmonton.

What you need to know is that the Oilers will have a hard time matching both offers because they’re handcuffed on salary.

The combined amount of the two offer sheets is $6,871,374 per season, and the club is currently over the salary cap by more than $300,000 (teams are allowed to exceed the salary cap by 10% during the summer).

That said, this could be where Kent Hughes comes in.

The Habs GM has room on the payroll (the club has a current cap space of $5,452,916) and can help out Stan Bowman if need be. And we know that Hughes isn’t afraid to make a similar transaction.

We saw it with Sean Monahan, after all.

So Hughes could dance with Bowman by offering to swallow a heftysalary… If (and only if) Bowman is willing to give him a little sweetener in the deal.

Because, in the end, Kent Hughes isn’t there to please everyone either.

The name of a guy like Cody Ceci, who earns an annual salary of $3.25 million, has been brought up.

The idea is intriguing.

There’s only one season left on the defenseman’s contract, he’s right-handed… And he’d fill part of a hole next season in Montreal.

It would also give the organization more leeway with Logan Mailloux or David Reinbacher.

If the Habs decide after training camp that the youngsters need to spend more time in the AHL for the sake of their respective development, Cody Ceci can fill a chair waiting in Martin St-Louis’ lineup on the right side of defense.

There would be no need to rush things in the case of Mailloux or Reinbacher, and that’s important too.

All this to say that a great opportunity has just opened up for Kent Hughes.

The GM has proven in the past that he’s capable of thinking outside the box… And this would be the perfect time to jump at the chance to get his hands on another top pick or another fine prospect for the next few years, if that’s what he wants.

Overtime

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