Edmonton needs to make room on the payroll to match the Blues’ two hostile offers, if they’re willing.
Instead, he decided to acquire Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks, in exchange for the Ottawa Senators’ 4ᵉ round pick in 2025.
Remember that Podkolzin is the 10ᵉ total pick of the 2019 auction.
TRADE
The #Oilers have acquired forward Vasily Podkolzin from Vancouver in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round draft pick that was originally acquired from Ottawa.#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/kS8aHMDpOl
– Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) August 18, 2024
Although Podkolzin doesn’t command a hefty salary (2 x $1M), it says a lot about young forward Holloway’s future in Edmonton.
This acquisition suggests that the Oilers wanted at least a cushion if they are unable to match the Blues’ offer for Holloway.
However, if we look at the site’s list of contracts, we see that the contracts awarded to Holloway and Broberg by St. Louis are counted against the payroll.
Although Holloway’s departure for St. Louis seems more certain, Broberg would be a good loss to the Oilers’ defensive brigade.
A guy like Jordan Harris could interest Bowman, if he doesn’t want to pay too much.
Podkolzin accumulated 35 points in 137 NHL games. He’s been shuttling back and forth between the NHL and the AHL for the past few years, but this breath of fresh air could help him find his feet again.
Overtime
– This is going to be scary.
Avalanche lines with Landeskog back in:
Drouin-Mackinnon-Rantanen
Landeskog-Mittelstadt-Kovalenko
Lehkonen-Colton-O’Connor
Wood-Wagner-KivirantaToews-Makar
Girard-Manson
Brannstrom-KylingtonGeorgiev
AnnunenDo people realize how easily this team could get back to 2022 form? pic.twitter.com/vKZKY17Nm1
– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) August 18, 2024
– Ilya Kovalchuk is still very strong physically.
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– Well.
Childhood classmates + champions Matthew Tkachuk and Jayson Tatum threw out the first pitch together at today’s @Cardinals game
(via @BallySportsMW)pic.twitter.com/NrMHReCrlD
– B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) August 18, 2024