Edmonton Oilers warned by top analyst regarding cap space - "They need to find some breathing room"

The Edmonton Oilers are in a difficult position to add players to their roster as summer approaches.

The Oilers need to add pieces to their blue line, but with only $5 million remaining in their salary cap space and the need to sign their restricted free agents on a new deal, GM Ken Holland is in a pickle that will likely force him to get rid of at least a player to free up the salary cap space.

To shed more light on the Edmonton Oilers' situation, hockey analyst Ryan Rishaug joined Jay Onrait on Sportscentre to discuss what options the Oilers can look out for this offseason to sign players. He also said that the Oilers will need to find a solution to deal with their heavy salary cap.

On Sportscentre, Ryan Rishaug said:

"If you're an Oilers fan, you're knowing that they need to do a bit better job defending if you want to get over the hump you know that as an Oilers fan. So, what can you practically do right now, Oilers fans not going to love the answer Jay because the answer is not a ton, they are so capped up. So capped out and we'll talk about Kailer Yamamoto in a minute here. They need to find some breathing room on the salary cap but if they don't there's really not much they can do."

He added:

"There's talk about a top four D man right we heard Kassian's name, you know, there's people out there. I just they don't have a space to do it. I really believe that the orders will they'll look into all of those things. The end of the day, the fallback position is going to be bring back most of the defense that you had and roll with that from the start of the season. I think Jay This is about keeping this team together. Not necessarily making a bunch of additions because the math just doesn't work."

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Who are the candidates that can become cap casualties for the Edmonton Oilers this summer?

Kailer Yamamoto has had numerous opportunities to prove his worth while playing alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but he has failed to demonstrate consistency.

With one year remaining in his contract and carrying a $3.1 million salary cap space, the Edmonton Oilers are in a position to not keep him on a team while having other talented wingers such as Evander Kane and Zach Hyman on board.

Cody Ceci, a defenseman, is another player who could be a cap casualty for the Oilers this offseason. The defenseman proved his worth during the 2020-21 season, but last season saw a significant drop in his performance.

With the rise of Evan Bouchard on the blue line, the Edmonton Oilers might come up with an approach to get rid of Ceci and save $3.5 million in salary cap space.