The Edmonton Oilers have made the tough decision on veteran defenceman Nikita Nikitin, and have placed him on waivers.
Save for one pre-season game (the one against Arizona) Nikitin has clearly been the 9th (or 10th) best D-man in camp. If it were not for his contract, this would not have been a hard puzzle to solve at all. Look at the Coyotes demoting Corey Potter today. But when you are stuck with a contract of $4.5m, it’s much different.
It’s also not just the money. Any General Manager worth his salt does not give up an asset for which his organization spent assets on to attain.