from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

The emergence of Leon Draisaitl, along with Connor McDavid, makes young centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins the most logical departure. Chiarelli raised eyebrows around the league when he left Nugent-Hopkins off the initial roster of 16 players selected for Team North America in the upcoming World Cup of Hockey. Nugent-Hopkins was one of the final seven players added to the team on May 27.

Chiarelli said the Oilers are “open for business” in terms of possibly trading the No. 4 overall pick at this month’s entry draft.

There are a handful of other teams looking to remake their roster. New GMs John Chayka in Arizona and Tom Rowe in Florida will attempt to put their own stamp on their team. Meanwhile, Montreal’s Marc Bergevin, Los Angeles’ Dean Lombardi, Anaheim’s Bob Murray, Detroit’s Ken Holland and New York GMs Garth Snow and Jeff Gorton are all quietly pondering big changes following disappointing finishes in 2015-16.

Then there will be the teams pinched by the salary cap.

Dollars will be tight everywhere, since NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in Pittsburgh this week the latest projection shows a “relatively flat” salary cap next season. In March, the NHL was projecting a nearly $3 million increase from $71.4 million to approximately $74 million.

That will put a big crunch on teams.

Half of the NHL’s teams, the ones flying close to the sun, needed a cap increase to be able to re-sign key players. The other half were praying for the current scenario, waiting to pounce on the spoils of the richer half to nab the players cap-challenged teams are unable to keep.

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