Rumor: Oilers expected to make a big move in the next 48 hours.

The Edmonton Oilers have some tough decisions to make over the next several hours and the clock is ticking against them.

Edmonton Oilers insider Jonathan Willis believes that if the Oilers want to make any type of splash this summer, even a minor one, they will need to find a way to relocate cap space either by making a trade of some significance or exercising one of their buyouts. Now that on it's own could describe a lot of teams around the National Hockey League this summer but Willis believes that the salary cap for the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season coming in at $38 million($1.5 million less than projected) could leave the Oilers in a particularly difficult position. 

You see the Oilers are looking at their last buyout window of the summer this Sunday and with no other windows coming in the near future the team, and newly appointed general manager Ken Holland, will have to decide whether or not they can come into next season without any significant upgrades at the forward position. Ideally Willies believes that the Oilers would prefer to orchestrate a trade involving either veteran defenseman Andrej Sekara or veteran defenseman Kris Russell, but adds that the trade protection offered in their contracts make the situation less than perfect for Ken Holland. 

Barring a trade for an forward on a similar contract it seems like a buyout would be the most likely option for the Oilers to move forward here, but the contenders for such a buyout may not please the fan base. The most obvious name would be that of veteran forward Milan Lucic, but his contract was specifically designed to be buyout proof which means the Oilers would save relatively little money by paying him not to play for the next 4 years. The player would would open up the most immediate amount of cap space would be the veteran Sekera, buying out his contract would save $3 million against the cap in years 1 and 2, followed by half that much in years 3 and 4. The issue of course is that Sekera is a valuable asset on the Oilers blue line, so the prospect of buying him out with no immediate way to replace him likely doesn't sound particularly appealing. 

If the Oilers do intend to make room a buyout might be their best option, but they have very little time left to make that decision.