Headlines

  • Robin Lehner To Miss Entire 2022-23 Season Following Hip Surgery
  • Boston Bruins Re-Sign Patrice Bergeron
  • 2022 Arbitration Tracker
  • Calgary Flames Extend Jonathan Huberdeau
  • New Jersey Devils Sign Jesper Bratt
  • Anaheim Ducks Sign John Klingberg
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Oilers Hoping To Re-Sign Multiple Impending Free Agents

January 22, 2020 at 8:53 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 1 Comment

Things are going well for the Edmonton Oilers this season. The team is in the thick of the Pacific Division race and the odds of a return to the postseason seem strong. The Oilers’ roster is far from perfect, still very reliant upon stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but the group is getting the job done this season. As a result, the front office is hoping that they can keep much of their team together moving forward. A report has already emerged that Zack Kassian, the team’s top-performing impending free agent, is nearing an extension with Edmonton. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman echoes that sentiment in his recent “31 Thoughts” column, and he adds that the team is hoping to re-sign three fellow forwards: Josh Archibald, Riley Sheahan, and Joakim Nygard.

In many cases, role players such as these, Kassian included in the opinion of many, do not garner in-season contract extensions or even public acknowledgement of extension interest. Archibald, Sheahan, and Nygard have combined for just 31 points on the year and Kassian has recorded 28 points thus far. These are not exactly stunning numbers – in fact they are replacement-level by any definition – but in Edmonton they carry greater weight. Secondary scoring is hard to come by for the Oilers and each of these four players are in fact top-nine scoring forwards for the team this season. Sheahan and Archibald also skate on the team’s top penalty killing unit, while Kassian and Archibald are also two of the Oilers’ most effective physical players and Sheahan is the team’s best player at the face-off dot. Not only are they contributing on offense as much as any other forward not named McDavid or Draisaitl, but they have been key two-way contributors as well.

These four have apparently done enough to prove themselves in Edmonton and the team would like to keep them beyond this season. None of the group stand a great chance of fixing the team’s secondary scoring problem, but Friedman notes that they will not be very expensive to retain. This would seemingly leave the Oilers with some cap space and roster spots to fill this summer. Even if the team does bring back these four impending UFA’s, there could still be plenty of turnover in the off-season. Sam Gagner, the buried contracts of Markus Granlund and Brandon Manning, and the unofficially retired Kyle Brodziak will all come off the books after this season, opening up some cap flexibility for the team, while other forwards like Gaetan Haas and Patrick Russell could also depart as free agents. If the Oilers want to keep these four key role players beyond this season, they can do so without sacrificing their ability to make other changes to broaden their offensive contributions next year.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Edmonton Oilers| Elliotte Friedman| Josh Archibald| Kyle Brodziak| Leon Draisaitl| Markus Granlund| Patrick Russell

Auston Matthews To Sit Out All-Star Game
Main
PHWA Announce 2019-20 Midseason Awards
View Comments (1)
newest oldest

Comments

  1. SuperSinker

    3 years ago

    Trade for Kovalchuk!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Robin Lehner To Miss Entire 2022-23 Season Following Hip Surgery

    Boston Bruins Re-Sign Patrice Bergeron

    2022 Arbitration Tracker

    Calgary Flames Extend Jonathan Huberdeau

    New Jersey Devils Sign Jesper Bratt

    Anaheim Ducks Sign John Klingberg

    Florida Panthers Acquire, Extend Matthew Tkachuk

    Seattle Kraken Acquire Oliver Bjorkstrand

    Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Patrik Laine

    Nashville Predators Sign Nino Niederreiter

    Recent

    Snapshots: Jets, Kings, Coyotes

    Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

    Negotiations “Going Nowhere” Between Rasmus Sandin, Maple Leafs

    Arizona Coyotes Sign Maveric Lamoureux

    Carolina Hurricanes Sign Anttoni Honka

    Tucson Roadrunners Hire Zack Stortini

    Chicago Blackhawks To Sign Cole Guttman

    Lukas Parik Signs AHL Contract

    Minor Transactions: 08/17/22

    Chicago Blackhawks Sign Jack Johnson

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Coyotes Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version