Oilers to acquire forward to save the Rangers from money issues

The New York Rangers have made loud big statements since the start of the offseason, signing star forward Artemi Panarin and trading for Jacob Trouba with the Winnipeg Jets. However, the latter move has caused some issues in the Big Apple seeing the GM Jeff Gorton now has to figure out how he’ll shed some salary to make room for the restricted free agent defenseman. 

That’s where the Edmonton Oilers could save the day. 

According to Rangers insider Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post, the Rangers could manage to get the Oilers to acquire restricted free agent Pavel Buchnevich and therefore get some room on the cap floor to get Trouba signed. 

Chris Kreider and Vladislav Namestnikov are also rumoured to be on the trade block, however, there is no doubt that Buchnevich is far more interesting. 

Oilers insider David Staples of the Edmonton Journal noted Cyrgalis’ report that Buchnevich could be on the trade block and wonders if GM Ken Holland will take a shot at him. Staples feels Buchnevich could fill a need for the Oilers and therefore a trade could take place shortly. 

Buchnevich was considered part of the Rangers’ youth movement, however they spent a lot of Panarin and the need to re-sign Trouba makes the young forward expendable. 

The 24-year-old collected 43 points in 2017-18 and tallied 21 goals and 38 points in 64 games last season. He filed for arbitration last week. 

According to Cap Friendly, the Rangers have just over $7 million cap space left for this season with Trouba, Buchnevich, Brendan Lemieux and Tony DeAngelo all in need of new contracts. Last month, insider Larry Brooks of the Post reported that Trouba is likely to command a salary in the range of $7.5-$8 million on a long-term deal.

So the Rangers might be calling the Oilers for help…