Off-Season Countdown: Could Kassian be moved?

Ahead of the NHL Draft on July 7 and the opening of free agency on July 13, TSN.ca keeps you up to date with all the latest rumours and speculation from around the NHL beat.

With the Edmonton Oilers in need of cap space this summer, is Zack Kassian a player who be may be on the outs?

The 31-year-old winger is under contract for another two seasons at a cap hit of $3.2 million. He had six goals and 19 points in 58 games this past season, adding two goals and four points in 16 playoff games. 

Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal writes that Oilers general manager Ken Holland will likely to have include a sweetener to move Kassian in a trade, pointing to prospect Dmitri Samorukov as a potential option, or the Oilers could retain salary or take back a contract to complete a deal.

If Oilers are looking to move Zack Kassian, Columbus with not much toughness is certainly interested. Ottawa with his old junior coach D.J. Smith likely too.

McCurdy argues that while a buyout would free up $2.5 million in cap space this summer and $1.33 million the next, it's likely not worth leaving a cap charge of just under $1 million ($966,667) in the following two seasons.

Should the Oilers move on from Kassian, McCurdy writes re-signing Evander Kane could help keep toughness in the lineup and would likely become more possible with the Kassian's cap hit off the books.

According to CapFriendly, the Oilers will have just over $7 million in cap space this off-season with Ryan McLeod, Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto scheduled to hit restricted free agency.

The Calgary Flames are hoping to re-sign Johnny Gaudreau before he hits the open market on July 13, but there will be no shortage of suitors if they fail to do so.

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike