The NHL's Latest Salary Cap Changes Could Hit the Oilers Hardest

For so many teams around the NHL, this gives them immense flexibility to build their roster how they like or take on other team's bad deals for future assets, but for the Edmonton Oilers, it still presents them with problems.

Why Edmonton's Roster Structure Leaves Little Room for Error

Despite this rising salary cap, the Oilers are paying Darnell Nurse, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard all over $9.5 million per season, and that's before we get to Connor McDavid's $12.5 million that will likely go up at least $2.5 million next season.

On top of that, they have very few assets to part with, so unless a team is willing to take on Nurse's contract to help them free up some salary cap space, this is a team that's got no margin for error as they chase their third straight Stanley Cup Finals.

Cap Pressure Looms Over McDavid, Draisaitl, and Oilers' Future Moves

For the most part, the Oilers roster is set ahead of next season, but with McDavid potentially set to get $15 million or more to break the NHL record for AAV, the salary cap pressure will continue for GM Stan Bowman.

On top of all of this, the NHL has all but outlawed LTIR loopholes, something that could have helped Edmonton around all of their salary cap issues, so with the Stanley Cup pressure mounting, the Oilers will need to get creative to put a team together to get over the final hump to Stanley Cup glory.