Claude Giroux is staying in Ottawa, and that report clears runway for Stan Bowman to finally move on the Edmonton Oilers blue line.
Tuesday brought the update hockey fans in Edmonton have been circling for weeks. Giroux, according to a new report, has confirmed his return to the Senators.
That matters more in Edmonton than it does in Ottawa right now.
Oilers insider Bob Stauffer said this week he could see something shaking down with a defenseman in the coming days, and probably only after the Giroux situation got resolved.
It sounds odd on the surface. Why would a 38-year-old winger signing in Ottawa hold up a trade in Edmonton?
But cap math works like a jigsaw puzzle. One piece has to lock into place before the rest of the board opens up.
Giroux posted 49 points in 82 games this season with Ottawa, including 14 goals, 35 assists and a plus-20 rating.
Oilers blue line already carrying heavy weight
Edmonton's defense corps is loaded with money. Evan Bouchard carries a 10,500,000 cap hit off a 95-point season, and Darnell Nurse sits at 9,250,000.
Mattias Ekholm, at 36 years old, is still logging major minutes on a 6,250,000 deal.
Jake Walman rounds out the group at 3,300,000, giving Bowman a defense corps that eats up cap space fast.
The Oilers finished the regular season 41-30-11 with 93 points, 14th overall but second in their division.
Edmonton actually beat Ottawa twice this season, both in overtime, 3-2 in October and 5-4 back in March.
Neither game settled in regulation, which tells you something about how tight these two rosters can play against each other.
Mike Babcock, hired as Oilers head coach back on June 23, now inherits whatever shape this blue line takes once Bowman moves.
Ottawa, for its part, finished 44-27-11 under Travis Green, ninth overall with 99 points, a season that kept Giroux relevant into the summer.
Stauffer's read was blunt: the Oilers are in a bit of a holding pattern. Now that the Giroux piece is off the board, that patience runs out fast.
Whether Bowman is chasing a rental, a reclamation project, or clearing money off his own roster to make room, none of that is settled yet.
The coming week is supposed to answer it. Edmonton fans have heard "coming week" before, though, and not every one of those weeks delivered.
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Should the Oilers have moved on their blue line before the Giroux situation resolved?
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