Pacific Notes: Oilers, Sharks, Canucks’ LTIR Situation

While the Oilers have been busy this summer between re-signing their free agents and bringing in a new starter in Jack Campbell, they took a run at landing one of the big fish on the open market as well.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that Edmonton was hoping to work out a sign-and-trade to pick up John Klingberg with the veteran signing with a team that would have then immediately moved him with retention to help on the salary cap front.  Montreal was believed to be a possibility as a team that would have facilitated the move.  While that one obviously won’t happen (Klingberg signed with Anaheim last month), it’s a sign that GM Ken Holland is still looking to upgrade his back end.

Elsewhere in the West:

• There remains no date set for the resumption of Evander Kane’s grievance hearing, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). The Sharks terminated Kane’s deal last season citing a breach of contract, permitting him to become an unrestricted free agent.  He signed with the Oilers for the stretch run and then inked a four-year, $20.5MM deal before free agency began to stay there but it remains to be seen what would happen if his original contract (which still had three years left at a $7MM AAV) was to be reinstated as a result of the grievance.
• In a separate tweet, Pashelka notes that discussions are ongoing between the team and RFA forward Jonah Gadjovich. The 23-year-old is San Jose’s last restricted free agent and is coming off a year that saw him pick up just three points in 43 games.  The Sharks tendered him a two-way qualifying offer worth just under $875K last month but Gadjovich might be willing to sign for less than that in exchange for a one-way contract.
• Thomas Drance of The Athletic examines (subscription link) some of the challenges that the Canucks will be facing in order to place Micheal Ferland on in-season LTIR in 2022-23. While Vancouver has several waiver-exempt players, their performance bonuses make the simplest idea of papering them down for a day not practical.  Accordingly, they might have to waive some roster players late in training camp to make the finances work.  Offseason LTIR is an option but most teams prefer to avoid that route and make an in-season placement but that will be a bit of a challenge for them.