Dead Weight Day! Oilers need to eat crow on contracts

The Edmonton Oilers have no shortage of players who could be categorized as “dispensable” – players they’re prepared to buy out of their contacts. Across the NHL today, a number of clubs will begin the process of trimming the dead fat away from the carcass. Over the next two weeks, leading up to free agency (July 1), teams are allowed the option of buying out players currently under contract that don’t, for one reason or another, fit into their future plans. Speculation has Edmonton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini – a man of few words – shedding the club of at least one of the following contracts – Patrick O’Sullivan, Robert Nilsson or captain Ethan Moreau. Tambellini was unable to trade Moreau at the trade deadline earlier this year, which could translate into the Oilers simply buying out their 34-year-old captain at just under $1.4M (two-thirds of his schedule $2M payday in 2010-11). Oiler forwards, O’Sullivan and Nilsson, are both overpaid and underachieving forwards. O’Sulliv...