Report: PTO and trade talk rumors out of Edmonton today

The Edmonton Oilers informally hit the ice today in Edmonton in a casual skate led by captain Connor McDavid. TSN reporter Ryan Rishaug happened to be in attendance and he offered up some juicy rumors for Oilers faithful.

First up, Rishaug reports that the Oilers are expected to hear back from free agent forward Jake Virtanen shortly on their professional tryout (PTO) contract offer. Rishaug reports though that several teams have an offer in to Virtanen and that the former Vancouver Canucks forward is taking his time making a decision.

But here's the thing... if the Oilers are going to bring in anyone, they'll need to shed some salary. Rishaug reports that forward Jesse Puljujarvi continues to feature in trade talks as Oilers GM Ken Holland looks to shed salary. Puljujarvi carries just a $3 million salary and a better trade chip may be someone like defenseman Tyson Barrie and his $4.5 million deal, but Rishaug doesn't believe a Barrie deal is on the table.

The obvious trade chip to me is forward Warren Foegele. While he makes $250,000 less per season than Puljujarvi, he's a much less versatile forward in my estimation. I understand that Puljujarvi may not have the trust of the entire Oilers' organization, but he's clearly a better player than Foegele... full stop. Puljujarvi is a versatile forward who can play up and down the lineup and, if he can sort out his positioning on the penalty kill he'll be one of the most versatile forwards in the NHL's Pacific Division. Frankly, the Oilers should be doing more to lock him up now while they can instead of trying to find stop gap solutions like Jake Virtanen and the like. As for Barrie... I don't see any teams taking him on at $4.5 million despite his offensive production. After all, here's a guy who led all NHL defensemen in scoring just a few short years ago, yet earned himself exactly zero first ballot Norris Trophy votes. He's an all-offense, all-the time type defender.