Salary Cap Deep Dive: Edmonton Oilers
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2019-20 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Edmonton Oilers
Current Cap Hit: $79,066,999 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Joakim Nygard (one year, $925K)
F Cooper Marody (two years, $925K)
F Kailer Yamamoto (two years, $894K)
D Evan Bouchard (three years, $894K)
F Tyler Benson (two years, $808K)
D Caleb Jones (one year, $720K)
D Ethan Bear (one year, $720K)
Potential Bonuses
Bouchard: $850K
Yamamoto: $230K
Marody: $75K
Jones: $70K
Bear: $20K
The team have a number of young players on entry-level deals, but so far while there is a ton of potential here, not one player has stepped up and established themselves as a full-time player on the Oilers roster. Yamamoto, the team’s 2017 first-rounder, was expected to provide the speed that the team needed to develop a fast-paced offense, but after 26 NHL games, he’s provided just one goal and four assists. Marody has appeared in six games with no points, while Benson, despite quite a bit of success in the AHL, hasn’t gotten a chance at the NHL level, although that’s likely to change this season. The team also has high hopes in Nygard, who is a speedy winger, who is coming off a 21-goal campaign in the SHL, but remains a mystery.
On defense, the team might get their 2018 first-round pick, Evan Bouchard, to make the team and contribute quickly, but he also must prove to the team that he’s ready for that opportunity. However, Bouchard already has seven games of experience with the Oilers (scoring one goal), while posting three goals and eight points for the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL in eight playoff games. Other defenseman might also be ready, including Bear and Jones. Bear has played two seasons now in the AHL, while Jones got 17 games with the Oilers last season and might be the most NHL-ready.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
D Darnell Nurse ($3.2MM, RFA)
F Sam Gagner ($3.15MM, UFA)
D Brandon Manning ($2.25MM, UFA)
G Mike Smith ($1MM, UFA)
F Zack Kassian ($1.95MM, UFA)
D Matt Benning (1.9MM, RFA)
F Markus Granlund ($1.3MM, UFA)
F Kyle Brodziak ($1.15MM, UFA)
F Josh Archibald ($1MM, UFA)
D Joel Persson ($1MM, RFA)
F Tomas Jurco ($750K, UFA)
F Colby Cave ($675K, RFA)
The bulk of the Oilers contracts seem to be one-year deals, which means that many players will have to prove to the Edmonton front office that they deserve a new contract. The team will likely unload the contracts of both Gagner and Manning after this season, which should free up $5.4MM of cap space. The Oilers traded for the veteran Gagner near the trade deadline and he contributed five goals and 10 points in 25 games for Edmonton, but he likely will take a bottom-line role with Oilers this season, while Manning has never been a good fit after being acquired from the Blackhawks in December last season. Smith is another veteran the Oilers have high hopes for, but the team will reassess its goaltending situation at the end of the year and whether to bring the then 38-year-old back for another season. The same can be said for players like Archibald, Granlund and Jurco.
The team will have pay up next season for Nurse, a restricted free agent, who put up career-high numbers last season with the Oilers. The 24-year-old put up 10 goals and 41 points and averaged 23:49 of time on the ice. He also blocked 146 shots, while adding 162 hits as well, making him a solid all-around player despite seeing his plus-minus drop from a plus-15 in 2017-18 to a minus-five last year. The team must decide whether to keep Benning, who will also be a restricted free agent. Benning saw his playing time drop by almost three minutes since the previous year and might lose his job to some of the team’s young defensive prospects.
The team also have a number of veteran players, who will hit unrestricted free agency, including Kassian, who saw career highs in ATOI (14:48) and goals (15) and also put up 191 hits as a bottom-line forward for the team. At 28, he could be considered an important keeper for the Oilers. Unfortunately, Brodziak’s success in Edmonton wasn’t as impressive as the veteran center averaged just 11:42 of ATOI, while scoring career low six goals and nine points.
Two Years Remaining
F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ($6MM, UFA)
D Adam Larsson ($4.17MM, UFA)
D Kris Russell ($4MM, UFA)
F Alex Chiasson ($2.15MM, UFA)
F Jujhar Khaira ($1.2MM, RFA)
This could be an interesting year for Nugent-Hopkins, who has always been an excellent defensive player, but now has established himself as a solid offensive player as well with a career-high 28 goals and 69 points. However with his contract coming up in two years, the Oilers might want to decide whether he is worth handing a long-term, expensive deal to. If they aren’t ready to lock him up, the Oilers might get the most value for Nugent-Hopkins at the trade deadlines. After all, top-six centers rarely come available and considering that any team that trades for him automatically gets another full season out of him, he might become quite a valuable trade chip.
The Oilers must also decide what they want to do with two of their highly-paid defensemen in Larsson and Russell. Both blueliners receive more than 20 minutes a night, but neither provides much offensive talent and haven’t been that helpful lately on defense either and between the two of them, the Oilers are giving them $8.17MM. Larsson put up comparable offensive numbers last year, but saw his defensive numbers drop as his minus-28 plus-minus was his lowest in his career by far. Russell also had comparable numbers from the last couple of years and kept his plus-minus in the positive, but the team may look to find a taker for either of them at the trade deadline.
Chiasson earned his two-year deal after posting a career-high 22 goals last season after winning a job in training camp on a PTO. The team hopes that the 28-year-old can duplicate that season. Khaira scored just three goals last season and will have to prove that he belongs on the roster next season.
Three Years Remaining
G Mikko Koskinen ($4.5MM, UFA)
Edmonton surprised many when former general manager Peter Chiarelli signed Koskinen to a three-year, $13.5MM extension last season despite a small sample size as an NHL goaltender. Koskinen didn’t fare that well in the second half of the season after signing the extension, putting up a 3.07 GAA and a .902 save percentage, which could make this a rocky relationship if Koskinen can’t prove to Edmonton that he is a No. 1 goaltender. The 31-year-old goaltender has spent most of his career in the KHL and may not be the answer that the Oilers were hoping for.
Four Or More Years Remaining
F Connor McDavid ($12.5MM through 2025-26)
F Leon Draisaitl ($8.5MM through 2024-25)
F James Neal ($5.75MM through 2022-23)
D Oscar Klefbom ($4.17MM through 2022-23)
The team has a couple of stud players in McDavid and Draisaitl and most would suggest that they are worth their contracts and they might even be bargains considering how well they were playing. Both have proven to be top-line players and they both broke the 100-point barrier last season and combining for 91 goals. The fact that both are locked up for at least another six years (seven for McDavid) shows that Edmonton already has a base of two franchise players and just need to fill out the rest of their roster with solid players who can fill out the rest of the team.
Neal is an interesting gamble by new general manager Ken Holland. The team was looking for a way to unload the untradeable contract of Milan Lucic, but managed to get the long-term deal of Neal, who is coming off 10 straight seasons of 20 goals or more, before his seven-goal performance last year in Calgary. The team hopes that the 31-year-old can prove that last year’s egg was just a fluke and the veteran can bounce back and provide some scoring on the wing for a team that really needs it.
Klefbom is another interesting defenseman, who the team hopes can improve, especially offensively. The 26-year-old managed 38 points back in the 2016-17 season, but has hasn’t been able to break 30 points since then. While his minutes are impressive, Edmonton needs to get more from one of their defensemen, who they signed assuming he would develop into a top-line defender.
Buyouts
D Andrej Sekera ($2.5MM in 2019-20 & 2020-21; $1.5MM in 2021-22 and 2022-23)
F Benoit Pouliot ($1.33MM per year through 2020-21)
D Eric Gryba ($300K in 2019-20)
Retained Salary Transactions
F Milan Lucic ($750K per year through 2022-23)
Still To Sign
Much has already been written about the impasse between the Oilers and Puljujarvi, who has demanded to be traded because he believes he can’t become a top forward in Edmonton. Holland has received no viable offers from other NHL teams and it looks likely that Puljujarvi might have to stay overseas for a season and hope that he can develop his game overseas with Karpat of the Finnish League and come back in a year with a new sense of purpose. However, nothing has happened yet and there’s always a possibility that he opts to come back to Edmonton and tries it again. The only problem: he’s not waiver exempt anymore, meaning he must stay on Edmonton’s roster or be placed on waivers and undoubtedly would be claimed by another team.
Best Value: Draisaitl
Worst Value: Koskinen
Looking Ahead
The team has its franchise players and with plenty of cap space freeing up next season, the team might have a way to add even more talent. However, what Edmonton needs more than anything is to see some of their young talent take that next step and begin making some major improvements. The Oilers have a dearth of talent on defense that should slowly be trickling in over the next few years, but more than anything Edmonton needs scoring. While McDavid and Draisaitl cost the franchise a great deal, the team must find the wingers that can get the team back into the playoffs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pittsburgh Penguins Sign John Marino
After acquiring him recently from the Edmonton Oilers, John Marino has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marino has decided not to return to Harvard for his senior season. Penguins GM Jim Rutherford released a short statement:
Adding a young defenseman like John to our organization will be very helpful. His development was accelerated last year and he became a top-10 defenseman in college hockey, giving himself a chance to play at the NHL level.
The Penguins will now send Edmonton a 2021 sixth-round pick to complete the trade. Marino could have become an unrestricted free agent next summer if he chose to return to the NCAA for his senior season. PuckPedia reported the details of the contract, tweeting that Marino can earn up to $850K in performance bonuses.
Selected in the sixth round back in 2015, Marino developed into one of the core leaders at Harvard and was set to wear the captain’s “C” this season. He’ll now jump right into the professional level and compete for a spot on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins blueline—provided the team doesn’t make subsequent moves to open up a spot in the NHL right away. The 22-year old has plenty of time to become acclimated to the professional level before being thrust into the spotlight, but he does give the team another option to consider when deciding whether or not to extend Justin Schultz. The 29-year old Schultz is heading into the final year of his current contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2020.
Marino recorded 42 points in 101 games at the NCAA level and has a good mix of size and skating ability. He shouldn’t be limited by either at the next level, though his real upside is still to be determined. The Penguins have mined the collegiate ranks for years to boost their organizational depth and Marino is just the latest to be given a chance.
Latest On Jesse Puljujarvi
The fourth overall pick from 2016 is still without a contract for the 2019-20 season. Jesse Puljujarvi has made it clear he wants a fresh start somewhere other than with the Edmonton Oilers and is willing to wait for that opportunity. Today Finnish outlet MTV Uutiset reports (via Google translate) that if Puljujarvi can’t find a deal in the NHL he will play for Karpat this season. According to his agent Markus Lehto, several NHL clubs have expressed interest but he would not speculate on whether a trade will actually happen.
Puljujarvi has ties to Karpat going back years, as he was developed in their junior system and played two seasons for the Liiga club before joining Edmonton. Playing there likely wouldn’t be as financially rewarding, but it could get the 21-year old back onto a solid development path. That has to be the biggest worry for any interested NHL clubs right now. Puljujarvi hasn’t shown enough to indicate he’s ready for full-time NHL action, but he also can’t go to the minor leagues without first clearing waivers. There’s no way anyone wants to give up something of value just to risk him to the entire league afterwards, meaning the offers for the young forward are likely underwhelming for Oilers GM Ken Holland.
In fact, letting him play in Finland for a year may not actually be the worst course of action for the Oilers. While he won’t be helping their club try to get back to the playoffs, he may be able to build up a little more value by having a solid season. He’s already shown in the past that he can compete at the Liiga level, and he’s still young enough that playing overseas wouldn’t get him a year closer to unrestricted free agency.
There is of course always a chance that he ends up signing with Edmonton after this game of chicken ends. If that happens, it will be extremely interesting to see if new head coach Dave Tippett can turn around his career or if the bridges have already been burned to the ground through this holdout.
Minor Transactions: 08/06/19
As August begins and we get closer to the end of arbitration and contract holdouts, teams continue to fill our their organizational depth charts. Here are some minor moves from around the league. We’ll keep updating as more come in:
- Former NHL forward Quinton Howden was traded in the KHL and will now play for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in 2019-20. The 25th overall pick from 2010 ended up in the KHL starting in 2017 after several seasons bouncing between North American leagues. Howden played a total of 97 games in the NHL and scored 17 points, but got to suit up for Canada at the Olympics last year after leaving the league behind. Younger brother Brett Howden is just beginning his own pro career, playing in his rookie campaign with the New York Rangers this past season.
- Former Edmonton Oilers prospect Greg Chase has signed with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, the team announced. Chase was a seventh-round pick of the Oilers back in 2013 and enjoyed a strong junior career in the WHL. However, after turning pro in 2015, Chase largely spent his first three seasons on his entry-level contract in the ECHL, struggling to make a difference in the AHL and getting nowhere close to the NHL. He was not re-signed by the Oilers last summer and spent most of the season with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. A point-per-game player for the Mariners, Chase earned a brief loan to the Wolf Pack and clearly did enough to earn a contract. The Chase family has some history in Hartford, as uncle Kelly Chase played several seasons with the Hartford Whalers, as well as the St. Louis Blues.
- After leaving Colorado College mid-way through the 2018-19 season, forward Ty Pochipinski has selected a new college program. The Air Force Academy has announced that Pochipinski has committed to their team and is set to enroll this fall. Pochipinski recorded one point in four games with Colorado College last season before leaving to join the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. He’s likely seeking more opportunity by jumping to the Air Force Falcons. Father Trevor Pochipinski was a four-year starter for the Colorado College Tigers and was actually drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round of the 1986 NHL Draft, although he never played for the team.
Snapshots: Shattenkirk, Miller, Malik
There appears to have been more interest in Kevin Shattenkirk than most anticipated, making his one-year, $1.75MM pact with the Tampa Bay Lightning all the more interesting. Earlier today, it was reported that the Lightning and the Arizona Coyotes were just two of eleven teams that reached out to Shattenkirk. Now, The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein states that the Anaheim Ducks went so far as to make Shattenkirk a formal, multi-year contract offer. He notes that the Los Angeles Kings also entered the mix. Colleague David Pagnotta adds that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, and Winnipeg Jets were also serious contenders. As for some of the other possible suitors, there was rampant speculation that both the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers would have interest in Shattenkirk. At the end of the day, the veteran puck-mover clearly chose what he felt was his best opportunity to return to form as a high-scoring, dynamic defenseman, playing with the uber-skilled Lightning. There were surely offers for more money and term than what Shattenkirk ended up accepting to go to Tampa, and what remains is to make the most of that gamble by asserting himself as a top option on a crowded blue line and padding his stats before hitting the free agent market again next summer.
- Despite Shattenkirk’s ties to the city during his collegiate career, it’s safe to assume that the Boston Bruins were not one of the teams interested in his services. The Bruins are having a hard enough time getting their own right-handed defensemen under contract with limited cap space, never mind adding another to the mix. Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo remain unsigned and the team has acknowledged that one or both may miss time during training camp due to to the rigors of difficult negotiations. Barring some magic from GM Don Sweeney and company, Boston will likely have to make a move to free up cap space. While many hope that it would be overpaid and ineffective veteran David Backes leaving town, such a trade would be hard to make and/or would cost the Bruins too much in picks or prospects. NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that defenseman Kevan Miller is instead the most likely casualty. Miller is a strong two-way defenseman who can make an impact on any team, when healthy. The problem is that he is not healthy as often as the Bruins have liked, leading them to invest heavily in defensive depth, such as signing John Moore last summer and extending Steven Kampfer and Connor Clifton in recent months. The Bruins have the depth to survive next season without Miller, after which he is likely to leave as a free agent anyway. Eliminating Miller’s $2.5MM cap hit may give the team just enough wiggle room to sign McAvoy and Carlo to long-term contracts. Meanwhile, even with so many teams facing salary cap issues, there would be a market for Miller’s services as a year-long rental to play a shutdown role for a contender.
- NHL scouts will have to travel to the Czech Republic to evaluate one of the 2020 draft class’ top goaltenders in-person this upcoming season. 17-year-old Nick Malik, son of former NHL defenseman Marek Malik, was drafted by the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in this summer’s CHL Import Draft, but will not sign with the club. His Czech junior team, HC Ocelari Trinec, announced today that their starting goaltender will be staying through the 2019-20 season. Malik is considered one of the top handful of goaltenders early on in the 2020 evaluation process, with one scouting source, Future Considerations, naming him their No. 2 goalie and No. 59 overall prospect in their preliminary rankings last month. The Czech keeper, who was actually born in Raleigh, North Carolina while his dad was playing for the Hurricanes, has turned heads with his calm demeanor and lightning reflexes in net and performed very well at the U-17 World Junior Championship last year. Rather than split time with new Greyhounds acquisition Christian Propp, who made 51 appearances for the North Bay Battalion last season, Malik will likely be the undisputed starter for Ocelari and will have the chance to make more appearances in the Czech secondary pro league.
Cam Talbot Wants To Split Duties In Net
- Sportsnet’s Luke Fox writes that Calgary Flames new goaltender Cam Talbot hopes to prove his value to his new team. Talbot, who signed on to be a veteran backup to David Rittich this summer, struggled in his final two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers before finally being traded at the trade deadline. Talbot said he hoped that a trade to Philadelphia would be the reset of his career that would allow him to bounce back. However, Talbot played just three and a half games with Philadelphia as the backup to Carter Hart and never got a chance to prove his value. Now in Calgary, Talbot said he hopes to be more than just a backup to Rittich and hopes to split time with him evenly. “[Rittich] played extremely well last year and kinda took that spot and earned his right to battle for it. I’m going in. I want to complement him,” says Talbot.
Free Agency Rumors: Bargains, Brassard, Upshall
NHL free agency is more than a month old, yet still chock full of value. In fact, the Athletic’s Jonathan Willis calls it the strongest August unrestricted free agent class that he has seen in over a decade. So how many of these notable names can expect to find NHL employment before next season? Willis broke down the group of unsigned players, listing five centers, six left wings, four right wings, four left-shot defensemen, four right-shot defensemen, and zero goaltenders that he feels certain still deserve a role in the league. Many of those are distinguished veterans who will comes as no surprise, names like Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Justin Williams, Derick Brassard, Patrick Maroon, Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Brian Boyle, and Ben Lovejoy, for example. Others are simply role players at this point in their career, having failed to show the upside needed to be an impact contributor, such as Riley Sheahan, Tobias Rieder, Magnus Paajarvi, Dmitrij Jaskin, Ben Hutton, Joe Morrow, and Fredrik Claesson, to name a few. However, the most intriguing names, pointed out by Willis as possible targets for bargain hunters at this point in the off-season, include Jake Gardiner, Kevin Shattenkirk, Oscar Lindberg, Valeri Nichushkin, and Alex Petrovic. Willis believes each one has a high ceiling and has more to give an NHL team than the rest of the list, aside from some of the top veterans. Some of those analyzed by Willis who he didn’t feel were necessarily worthy of another NHL contract? Jamie McGinn, Micheal Haley, Cody McLeod, Zac Rinaldo, Devante Smith-Pelly, Drew Stafford, Andrew MacDonald, David Schlemko, Adam McQuaid, and Cam Ward.
- One of the aforementioned names, Derick Brassard, may be closest to finding a new home. The Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins has confirmed the Edmonton Oilers’ interest in the veteran center, as they currently have a hole down the middle on their third line. This is hardly the first time that Brassard’s name has been linked to the Oilers, but it is the first time details have emerged. Leavins reports that Brassard is seeking upwards of $4MM AAV on his next contract, which is beyond what Edmonton is willing to pay. They have fair reason to avoid that salary too, as Brassard is coming off the worst season of his career, a 23-point campaign split between the Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, and Colorado Avalanche. Approaching 32 years old and already showing signs of decline over the past few years, Brassard will be hard-pressed to get $4MM from any team, never mind the cap-strapped Oilers. Leavins mentioned that the Montreal Canadiens also have interest in Brassard, but the two teams are unlikely to engage in a bidding war. If the Oilers are already in talks with Brassard, they stand a good chance to land him at a fair price, even if it takes another few weeks to move him to a reasonable asking price.
- Leavins also notes that Scottie Upshall is hoping to throw his hat back into the ring for NHL consideration this summer. Upshall joined the Oilers in training camp on a PTO last fall, only to suffer a serious lower-body injury and to be cut from camp. Leavins notes that he has been rehabbing for the past nine months and feels he is ready for a comeback. The market for Upshall certainly won’t be overwhelming – he was on a PTO last year and is now a year older and coming off a major injury – but there’s reason to think he still has value and could earn another training camp invite. Upshall has had his struggles with both injuries and consistency throughout his 15-year NHL career, but the journeyman forward has cracked 30 points five different times and is an established two-way contributor and penalty killer. His last full season with the St. Louis Blues in 2017-18, Upshall played a regular role on the team’s fourth line, albeit missing 19 games, and was on a full-season pace for 25 points and a career-high 155 hits. If Upshall really is back at full strength, it’s fair to assume that some teams may have interest in his veteran presence and energy role, especially if they can also assume a 20-30 point season on a minimum contract.
Oilers Notes: Offseason Plans, Nugent-Hopkins, Koskinen, Petrovic
Despite quite a bit of struggles over the past couple of years, the Edmonton Oilers didn’t make a significant amount of changes this offseason. Sure, the team did acquire James Neal in a swap of bad contracts, sending off Milan Lucic, but little else was done. Much of that could be due to new general manager Ken Holland who wants to see more of his team before trading pieces away carelessly.
The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell (subscription required) writes that Holland should be quite busy over the next seven months as there are plenty of opportunities to upgrade. One obvious option is to pick up a free agent or two before training camp begins. The team already signed forward Josh Archibald a few weeks ago, but could add even more talent to their bottom-six. There are several significant names still available, including Derick Brassard, Thomas Vanek, Riley Sheahan, Magnus Paajarvi and Oscar Lindberg all as possibilities.
Mitchell also points out the Oilers could look to signing some players to PTO’s as well. The team got lucky last year when it signed Alex Chiasson to a PTO and eventually signed him as he scored 22 goals last season in a breakout campaign. There are a number of interesting players out there as well that might be willing to sign a PTO, including Valeri Nichushkin, Dmitrij Jaskin and Nicolas Kerdiles.
- In the same article, Mitchell also notes that the team could find itself shopping a pair of their own players at the trade deadline as both Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Larsson will be free agents after the 2020-21 season. If the team has little interest in handing either of them long-term deals, Holland might be better served trading them in February if the team is out of the playoff race, giving a buyer a chance to get a player who can help for their playoff run, but also a full year next season. The 26-year-old Nugent-Hopkins is coming off a career-high 28 goals and 69 points last season and could generate a solid return if the Oilers opted to move him at the trade deadline. Larsson, also 26, struggled last season with a minus-28 rating, but could still prove to be a solid defensive depth addition to a playoff team.
- While Mikko Koskinen is being paid more than twice the amount of veteran backup Mike Smith, new head coach Dave Tippett says that he intends to split the minutes up between his two goaltenders equally, according to Edmonton Journal’s Derek Van Diest. The 31-year-old Koskinen was originally signed to take over full-time duties last season and will begin the first year of a three-year, $13.5MM deal, but still hasn’t proven to the team, fans or coaching that he deserves to be the team’s No. 1. “I hope they both play a similar amount of games and they’re both really good every one of them,” Tippett said at the Sixth Annual Mark Spector Golf Classic at the Quarry Golf Course on Wednesday. “Last year, I thought Koskinen looked tired. If you watch the last 20 games, he played a lot and mentally and physically, he looked tired.”
- Former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Alexander Petrovic remains unsigned, but the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that he’s heard that there is interest from the rival Calgary Flames for the blue liner. The team could look to add a veteran depth defenseman like Petrovic, who just bought out Michael Stone. Petrovic, acquired in December from Florida for Chris Wideman and a 2019 third-round pick, played just nine games for the Oilers, posting a minus-seven in that time.
Puljujarvi Doubles Down On Promise To Play In Europe If Not Traded
After reports just days ago that new Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland was unlikely to give in to the trade demands of Jesse Puljujarvi, the young forward has fired back. Puljujarvi took part in a charity game in his hometown of Oulu, Finland today and spoke with the media during the event. Finnish sports reporter Jouni Nieminen translated his comments as follows:
I want a new start with some other team. Playing in North America is still my goal. I will stay in Oulu until I have a contract. I will find a place to play somewhere.
This echoes what Puljujarvi has been saying all summer long and he is well within his right to remain in Europe if he chooses. While technically still a member of the Oilers, the 21-year-old is an unsigned restricted free agent under no obligation to return to Edmonton if he doesn’t want to. However, he is not free to sign with another NHL team and will require a trade to continue his goal of playing in the NHL. While the Oilers have been listening to offers from other clubs, they have reportedly been underwhelmed and are not willing to trade Puljujarvi away at rock bottom price. By no means has the 2016 fourth-overall pick showed that he is worthy of a great return; in three pro seasons he has split time between the NHL and the AHL, recording just 37 points in 139 NHL games and another 37 points in 53 games in the minors. However, the young winger still has the size and skill to be a special player if he can put it all together and Holland is not ready to give up on that potential, especially so early into his tenure as Oiler’s GM.
However, will that mindset change if Puljujarvi really does hold true to his promise to play in Europe? It’s a very reasonable option for the Finnish forward, as he won’t have to go very far. Oulu is home to the Liiga’s Karpat, the team whose system Puljujarvi grew up in and a club that he played in 71 games with before moving to North America. The league’s defending regular season champs and a perennial contender, Karpat is a team that Puljujarvi could play a major role for and could continue his development with, while also being fairly compensated. And at 21, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t spend multiple seasons with Karpat if things are going well and the Oilers are unwilling to change the status quo. So is Edmonton really willing to ride that potential career arc out on principal? Or will the team simply cut ties with a player who has only brought disappointment and frustration to the club thus far? There is still far more to the trade demand saga between player and team this summer and possibly longer.
Oilers Expected To Invite Jaxon Bellamy To Rookie Camp
- The Oilers are expected to invite undrafted prospect Jaxon Bellamy to their upcoming rookie camp, notes Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal. The 18-year-old spent last season with Sherbrooke of the QMJHL, recording 16 points and 48 penalty minutes in 60 games.