Since when was Barrie's contract "bad"?? He's on pace to score over 50 points and playing the best 2-way hockey of his career. He makes just $4.5M for 1.2 more seasons... that's a fantastic value deal. There are no other perennial 50-point defensemen available for less than $4.5M.

You've got your valuations all wrong on that one.

He’s a 2nd/3rd pairing defenseman making $4.5mil on a cap-strapped team with tons of RFAs and UFAs coming up. Mayfield is flat-out better for nearly $4mil less and the oilers could opt to re-sign him for less than $4.5mil in the offseason

Mayfield has posted a positive GF% Rel only twice in his 7 seasons, and not once in the past 3. Barrie has posted a positive GF% Rel in 9 of the past 10, and every one of the past 3. Since hockey is about what you score minus what you give up, I'll take Barrie.

In any case nothing you wrote proves that Barrie is a cap dump.

This made me lol. He can't skate, stickhandle, pass or shoot at NHL average level. He's a big physical guy who is prone to giveaways, but the Oilers have a bigger, more physical guy in Desharnais already, so they aren't about to drop a 1st + on a mediocre rental. And they CERTAINLY aren't about to pay to move one of the best offensive defensemen in the game who is on a very cheap deal for what he brings.