Oilers 10-11

Among the things that we can call background noise is the story connecting Jaromir Jagr to the Edmonton Oilers. Recent comments from associate coach Tom Renney saying he’s keeping in touch and that Jagr has more NHL seasons ahead of him make the story worth following over the winter and into spring.

Can the Oilers afford Jagr? Would he cost north of 4M? If they add Jagr, do they need to drop a defenseman making 4M or more? Here’s a quick early look at the caphit for 2010-11:

1. Shawn Horcoff 5.5M
2. Dustin Penner 4.25M
3. Ales Hemsky 4.1M
4. Patrick O’Sullivan 2.925M
5. Robert Nilsson 2.0M
6. Ethan Moreau 2.0M
7. Zack Stortini .700M
8. Lubomir Visnovsky 5.6M
9. Sheldon Souray 5.4M
10. Tom Gilbert 4.0M
11. Steve Staios 2.7M
12. Ladislav Smid 1.3M
13. Taylor Chorney .942M
14. Nikolai Khabibulin 3.75M

Total dollars for 14 players is $45,167,000. Assuming the cap is $57 million for 2010-11 that gives the team $12M to sign Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Denis Grebeshkov, Gilbert Brule, Marc Pouliot, Ryan Stone, Liam Reddox, JF Jacques and Jeff Deslauriers (all rfa’s).

How much would be left for Jagr? Not close to enough, I’d expect. Steve Tambellini has to make a trade before June 30, 2010. Book it.