Curtis Lazar (Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images)EDMONTON – The 2025-26 season presents some new opportunities for the Edmonton Oilers.
Chief among them has been trimming the salary cap fat on some contracts for players that more cost-effective options could replace.
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Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson were two players traded away (to the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins, respectively) who were making a pretty penny. They’ve been replaced by the more cost-effective contracts of Trent Frederic and Andrew Mangiapane.
Now, Mattias Janmark is likely to face the chopping block.
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Specifically, the signing of Curtis Lazar could single-handedly spell the end of Janmark’s tenure with the Oilers.
Lazar isn’t an incredible offensive player, but you don’t need that in a team’s bottom six. He’s defensively responsible, brings some pace to his game, but doesn’t carry the same $1.45 million cap hit as Janmark ($775,000).
That’s leaving out the signing of David Tomasek, another likely bottom-six forward with top-six potential.
Both Tomasek and Lazar offer the Oilers something Janmark does, albeit at a fraction of the cost. Add it all up, and it likely means that the Oilers either trade him away or slap him on the waiver wire to be picked up by a team looking to get past the salary cap floor.
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