Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

After failing to find trade partner, Oilers put Sheldon Souray on waivers

Sheldon Souray, Mike Blunden

Edmonton Oilers’ Sheldon Souray (44) collides with Columbus Blue Jackets’ Mike Blunden (12) in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

AP

The Edmonton Oilers placed defenseman Sheldon Souray on waivers, reports TSN.

The Edmonton Oilers are giving the NHL’s 29 other teams a chance at acquiring Sheldon Souray, as the team placed the veteran defenceman on waivers on Friday.

Souray signed a five-year contract in 2007 that was supposed to see him in Edmonton through the end of the 2011-12 season, and the 33-year-old’s no-move clause has expired.

The Oilers defenceman gave GM Steve Tambellini a list of preferences back in January in the event that he would be shipped out before the March 3 trading deadline. Souray was also on the record as saying he’d waive his no-movement clause if the circumstances were to his liking.

Souray has two years left on his contract with an annual cap hit of $5.4 million. The Oilers hope that an NHL team claims him as is, because that will allow them to get him off their salary cap altogether.

The most likely scenario, however, is that a team might pick him up once he goes into the re-entry waiver process. If that were to happen, the Oilers would assume half (or $2.7 million) of the cap hit and salary expenses while Souray’s new team would foot the other 50 percent of the bill. Souray isn’t a very desirable defenseman at his age and injury-prone level when his price tag is $5.4 million, but at half that cost he’s a much better deal.

While significant players only get claimed on re-entry waivers every so often, it does happen in the NHL. Take, for instance, the Sean Avery fiasco in Dallas. The Stars gave Avery a four-year deal worth just under $16 million, yet now Dallas and the Rangers are paying him $1.937 million each to pester people at Madison Square Garden.

There’s no guarantee the Oilers will be able to get rid of the now-troubling player, but we’ll let you know if someone does snatch up Souray.