Edmonton Activates Ty Rattie From Injured Reserve
Entering the 2018-19 season, forward Ty Rattie was labeled as one of the players who could make or break the Edmonton Oilers’ season. Any determination of Rattie’s impact on the campaign was put on hold in mid-October, when the 25-year-old was placed on the injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Expected to be out until later this month, it came as somewhat of a surprise this afternoon when the Oilers announced that Rattie has been activated from the IR and is set to return to the lineup. In a corresponding move, rookie forward Cooper Marody has been returned to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
After an incredibly productive preseason, Rattie was handed a coveted first-line slot on the right wing of superstar center Connor McDavid. It was a career-defining opportunity for Rattie, who has been little more than minor league depth thus far in his pro career. A second-round pick of the St. Louis Blues in 2011, Rattie played in only 30 NHL games in parts of four seasons in St. Louis, recording eight points. He was lost on waivers briefly to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2016-17 and contributed two points in five games. Rattie opted to sign with Edmonton as a free agent in 2017 and played in a career-high 14 games last season, posting a career best 15:28 ATOI. It was far from regular NHL action, but was the first step toward taking a permanent role with the Oilers, and he made the most of it by posting nine points. Expected to take a step forward this year, Rattie notched a goal and an assist in his five games prior to the injury. While he’s not quite back at square one, he may very well have to work his way back into top minutes and first-line consideration.
If Rattie can find his scoring touch quickly, he should be back in the top-six as soon as possible. The Oilers have struggled with secondary scoring this season, with only McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins holding more than seven points on the year. The platoon on the right side is an especially troublesome situation, with Alex Chiasson, Drake Caggiula, Zack Kassian, and Jesse Puljujarvi all failing to make the most of their opportunities. Rattie’s addition would be a welcome addition to the competition for production and consistency at right wing.
Marody, a first-year pro out of the University of Michigan, skated in two games for the Oilers during Rattie’s absence. While he was limited to under nine minutes of ice time per night and held scoreless, he didn’t look out of place at the NHL level. A sixth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers acquired for a third-round pick last spring, Marody’s stock is clearly on the rise and he should see more action in Edmonton before the end of the season.
Snapshots: Three Stars, Bortuzzo, Backes
The NHL has released the Three Stars for the third week of the season, and Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has found himself in the top spot. Landeskog makes up part of one of the most dangerous trios in the league alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, and finished last week with six goals and seven points in just three games. Landeskog is still just 25 years old despite this being his eighth season in the league and still has the potential to breakout and become a point-per-game player. That’s what he is so far with ten through his first eight games, and is an early bet to break his career high of 65 points this season.
Connor McDavid and Marc-Andre Fleury round out the stars of the week, taking home second and third respectively. Fleury especially bounced back from some early season struggles and is once again playing at a high level for the Vegas Golden Knights. The 33-year old goaltender is now tenth all-time in wins, and should pass Tony Esposito by season’s end to climb another spot.
- Robert Bortuzzo won’t be suiting up for the St. Louis Blues in Winnipeg tonight, as he’s flown back to St. Louis to be evaluated for a lower-body injury. The defenseman played on Saturday night, but is now apparently dealing with something serious enough to leave the team. The 29-year old has one goal through five games for the Blues, and is coming off the best season of his career in 2017-18 when he suited up for 72 contests. The team will have to go without his physicality and penalty killing for the time being, and will re-insert Jay Bouwmeester into the lineup for tonight’s game.
- It’s similar news for David Backes, who has left the Boston Bruins to return home and “have some tests done.” Backes didn’t play in Vancouver on Saturday night, and was limited to just over six minutes of ice time against the Edmonton Oilers after taking an early hit and being checked for a concussion. The 34-year old forward hasn’t scored yet this season, and could be on his way out of the Boston lineup on a long-term basis if he both can’t stay healthy and can’t produce. Unfortunately for the Bruins, he’s still has two more years after this season at a $6MM cap hit, and currently has a no-movement clause.
Edmonton Oilers’ Ty Rattie To Miss A Couple Of Weeks
Sunday: The Oilers announced they have placed Rattie on injured reserve. The team has recalled Cooper Marody from the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL to replace him on the roster. The Oilers acquired Marody’s rights from Philadelphia in March and were able to sign him away from the University of Michigan. The 21-year-old already has two goals and six points in the Condors first five games.
Saturday: The Edmonton Oilers announced that Ty Rattie, who was forced to leave Thursday’s game against Boston with an apparent injury, will be without the promising winger for a couple of weeks with a muscle injury in his midsection.
The 25-year-old winger made a name for himself in the preseason when he led the league in goals with seven. That string of performances won him a spot on the team’s first line next to Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, but Rattie has not been able to continue his goal-scoring streak into the regular season. He has a goal and an assist in five games. The injury is a big blow to a player who has been working hard to earn a full-time role in the Edmonton lineup. He has played 54 games in the NHL, but spread out over six seasons.
The Oilers intend to promote 2017 first-round pick Kailer Yamamoto to the top line while Rattie is out. The fast-skating 20-year-old has a goal in five games, but if he can find some chemistry with McDavid as many people have predicted could happen, that could end Rattie’s time on the first line, one of the best lineup opportunities in the NHL.
Pacific Notes: Brannstrom, Goldobin, Rattie, Suomela
The Vegas Goldent Knights are in a much different situation than they were a season ago when there were little to no expectations in front of them. The team made the decision to protect their young prospects, returning them all to juniors as well as sending several key prospects such as Shea Theodore and Alex Tuch to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL at the start of the season to protect as many of their players as possible.
However, this year looks like a whole different story. With the team without Nate Schmidt for 20 games and Theodore, who is holding out without a contract, there are many opportunities available to their young defensive prospects and several of them remain in camp, including Erik Brannstrom, Nicolas Hague and Jake Bischoff and it’s possible the team may keep one of them. Ken Boehlke of SinBin Vegas writes that head coach Gerard Gallant may have tipped his hand when asked about the prospects today.
“It’s always been we’re taking our best players,” said Gallant. “It’s not like the situation we had last year, if that’s what your trying to get to, it’s not like that situation, we want to win it’s a completely different scenario than it was last year.”
At the moment, the scribe writes that Brannstrom, the Golden Knights’ 15th-overall pick in 2017 is the leading candidate to win a NHL job. However, Hague, the team’s second-rounder in 2017, has also been extremely impressive on the power play.
- J.D. Burke of The Athletic (subscription required) released his stock report and writes that Vancouver Canucks winger Nikolay Goldobin has really impressed the team in the preseason and has his stock soaring high. The winger had a strong end-run with the Canucks late last season and the team had hoped that the 22-year-old might continue that streak this year. Goldobin has thrived on the team’s first line next to rookie Elias Pettersson and veteran Sven Baertschi. He’s improved his play and has proven to be both fitter and faster this season.
- Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun writes that the Edmonton Oilers should be happy with the impressive play of many of their young wingers, including Ty Rattie, Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi. Rattie may be the most impressive player so far as the 25-year-old has potted four goals and three assists in just two preseason games and is expected to play on the team’s first line alongside Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins when the regular season begins.
- When the San Jose Sharks included center Chris Tierney in the Erik Karlsson trade with the Ottawa Senators, it opened up a spot in the Sharks lineup and two youngsters are quietly fighting hard for that center position, according to The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka. Both Antti Suomela and Rourke Chartier have been impressive in recent preseason games as Suomela had two goals and an assist in his second preseason game on Thursday, while Chartier has had a goal and three assists in two games. Suomela came over from Finland’s Liiga after posting 43 goals over the last two seasons there. Cartier suffered through an injury-plagued season with the San Jose Barracuda in which he played in just 28 games, but still produced 21 points in that time.
Central Notes: MacKinnon, Jokiharju, Boqvist, Honka
The Colorado Avalanche had a phenomenal turnaround season last year after many years where the team was considered among the bottom-fodder of the league. Yet in one year, the team now looks like an ever-improving playoff team that is definitely heading in the right direction. The team also has one more thing going for them — that’s Nathan MacKinnon, who in one year also has established himself into one of the top players in the league after posting 39 goals and 97 points last season. The 23-year-old is also, fortunately for the team, locked up for five more years at a very reasonable $6.3MM AAV.
In fact, the young superstar told Mike Chambers of the Denver Post that the money isn’t an issue for him even though he could make a salary much closer to that of Edmonton Oilers’ center Connor McDavid‘s $12.5MM contract if he was a free agent right now.
“If I was up, I would ask for more than what I’m getting now,” MacKinnon told The Denver Post. “I think you want to get paid what you’re worth. And at the time, I thought I was paid what I was worth. But I’m trying to get better every day and money is the last thing on my mind. It really is. I just want the respect of my teammates, respect from my peers and to reach my own expectations.”
Regardless of MacKinnon’s lack of worry about being paid as a top player, he can’t negotiate a new contract until July 1, 2022, when he’ll be 28 years, so he could be even better then.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Jimmy Greenfield feels that Chicago Blackhawks prospect Henry Jokiharju has already made the team and feels it isn’t too early to declare that fact. The 19-year-old first-rounder in 2017 has impressed in camp and has been among the top seven defenseman in camp. On top of that with injuries to Connor Murphy and Gustav Forsling, who are both expected to be out until at least November, Jokiharju has found that opening that should slot him in with Erik Gustafsson as a third-pairing defenseman to start the season. The hope would be that he would earn the right to stay in the first month of the season and force Chicago to make a tough decision when Murphy and Gustafsson return.
- Speaking of Blackhawks’ defensive prospects, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Madeline Kenney suggests that 2018 first-round pick Adam Boqvist has re-established himself as a candidate for a roster spot on the Blackhawks after an impressive performance Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings. Many people felt he would be re-assigned after the game, but head coach John Quenneville stated that Boqvist would be staying with the team – for now.
- Matthew DeFranks of SportsDay writes that only two players will have played in all three of their recent preseason games, including Tuesday’s game against St. Louis, Thursday’s game against Minnesota and tonight’s game against Florida in defensemen Julius Honka and Gavin Bayreuther. While Honka is a lock to make the roster, head coach Jim Montgomery wants him to play as much as possible to increase his confidence. However, the team also wants to see as much as it can of Bayreuther, who will likely end up with the AHL Texas Stars, but could be the top defenseman to be called up, if Montgomery likes what he sees.
Toronto’s Dubas Isn’t Budging On Contract Standoff With William Nylander
With still a number of restricted free agents around the league opting not to attend training camp, many people find themselves looking at the most prominent of them in Toronto Maple Leafs’ William Nylander, who still hasn’t come to an agreement with Toronto and rumor have the two sides being far apart. The 22-year-old winger, who was the eighth-overall selection back in 2014, has put up two solid 20-goal, 60-point campaigns and could be ready for a breakout season.
Regardless, negotiations seem to be at a standstill. Maple Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas did a Q&A with students from his alma mater, Brock University this morning and had an interesting response when asked when the team was going to sign Nylander.
“As soon as possible,” said Dubas. “If we want to sustain success here we can’t be setting any marketplace records.”
According to Kevin McGran of the Star, Dubas made it clear that the team wasn’t budging on its offer to Nylander, who is rumored to be seeking $8MM per season, while the Maple Leafs are offering around $6.5MM. Dubas also said he isn’t worried if Nylander misses some of training camp. Due to all its salary cap issues over the next several years, Dubas has to make sure not to overpay any one player, considering he still has to sign Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner to extensions as well.
While there is no confirmation of the $8MM salary demand from Nylander, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, in his most recent 31 Thoughts column, writes that he believes that Nylander is asking for Leon Draisaitl money at $8.5MM per season and is likely accurate for several reasons. He writes that agents are always high, but they are using the Draisaitl comparison since Draisaitl posted 129 points in his first two seasons, while Nylander has posted 122. Throw in the fact that Connor McDavid new contract last season pushed Draisaitl’s pricetag up, the same is likely to happen as Nylander will want to be near the salaries that Matthews and Marner will eventually get (not to mention the money that Tavares got this offseason).
Dubas and the Maple Leafs are hoping that Nylander will take a little less money being on a deep, dominant playoff team, something that other players have already done such as Tavares, Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly already have.
Oilers Notes: Criticism, Nurse, Lucic
TSN insider Bob McKenzie has begun previewing the 2018-19 seasons for the NHL’s Canadian clubs on his podcast, “The Bobcast”, and dropped some bombs about the Edmonton Oilers. McKenzie most newsworthy claim is that the Oilers have been criticized by executives around the league for failing to reach the postseason last year. McKenzie was honest in his assessment of the team, saying “I think the way most people look at it, every year you have a Connor McDavid-led team that misses the playoffs, that is a crime against hockey humanity. I think that would be especially true this season after they didn’t do it last season… McDavid’s game is on its own level and it would be absolutely criminal if the Edmonton Oilers cannot find a way to surround him with enough talent to get this team back into the playoffs.” McKenzie, and anyone who has been critical of the team, are absolutely in the right to wonder how a team with arguably the best player on the planet can not only miss the playoffs, but finish in the bottom ten of the league. It is also fair to question, as McKenzie did, whether the team has done enough to add more talent to the roster. Outside of backup goalie Mikko Koskinen, two-way winger Tobias Rieder, and checking center Kyle Brodziak, the Oilers are more or less relying on the same group as last season to put together a major turnaround. Even with some positive regression, Edmonton will need to step it up this season – the players, coaches, and front office included.
- McKenzie also put Edmonton fans on edge by blowing up the narrative that negotiations were going well with restricted free agent defenseman Darnell Nurse. “By all accounts Nurse’s contract negotiations are not going well at all”, McKenzie said, “so we’ll just have to wait and see on that.” Nurse remains unsigned with training camp soon to open and there is no way to know how long it will take to get him under contract. Even before the Andrej Sekera injury, the Oilers needed Nurse around to play a key role on the blue line, but now it is imperative that they get him signed and ready to be a major top-four contributor this season. Edmonton can’t afford to let these negotiations last too far into the regular season, but their cap crunch and messy trade history also mean that they need to remain cautious. It isn’t an easy situation for the team or player.
- McKenzie also refuted the report that Milan Lucic never requested a trade this summer, returning to the previous assumption that he did want out of Edmonton. McKenzie said “Can Milan Lucic rebound from an abysmal season that was punctuated by him asking for a trade, one which he didn’t get? If you talk to the right people by all accounts his mind, his spirit, his body are all fully ready to embrace the challenge.” While this was one of McKenzie’s more positive remarks, it does throw another dig at the Oilers that one of GM Peter Chiarelli‘s big free agent acquisitions not only played poorly last season, but now wants out. Perhaps Lucic walking back trade rumors earlier this summer is a sign that he has moved on, but that interest in leaving existed at one point and could return if Edmonton suffers through another disappointing season.
2018-19 Season Primer: St. Louis Blues
With the NHL season now just a month away, it’s time to look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come. Today, we focus on the St. Louis Blues.
Last Season: 44-32-6 record (94 points), fifth in the Central Division (failed to reach the playoffs)
Remaining Cap Space: $284,845 per CapFriendly
Key Additions: F Ryan O’Reilly (trade, Buffalo Sabres); F Tyler Bozak (free agent, Toronto Maple Leafs); F David Perron (free agent, Vegas Golden Knights); F Patrick Maroon (free agent, New Jersey Devils); G Chad Johnson (free agent, Buffalo Sabres); F Brian Flynn (free agent, Dallas Stars); D Tyler Wotherspoon (free agent, Calgary Flames); F Jordan Nolan (free agent, Buffalo Sabres)
Key Departures: F Kyle Brodziak (free agent, Edmonton Oilers); G Carter Hutton (free agent, Buffalo Sabres); F Patrik Berglund (trade, Buffalo Sabres); F Vladimir Sobotka (trade, Buffalo Sabres); F Tage Thompson (trade, Buffalo Sabres); F Wade Megan (free agent, Detroit Red Wings); F Beau Bennett (free agent, Dinamo Minsk (KHL)); Petteri Lindbohm (free agent, Laussane (Swiss League))
[Related: Blues Depth Chart From Roster Resource]
Player To Watch: G Jake Allen — The team has upgraded its offense, already had a solid defense and has several of their top prospects banging on its door, hoping to get into their rotation this year. What they didn’t do much with is their goaltending. Allen, once considered the franchise goalie, has now struggled for more than a full season, but with three years at $4.35MM per season still on the books, he’s not going anywhere this year.
The 28-year-old netminder struggled down the stretch during the 2016-17 season, but his consistency got even worse last year when he posted a .906 save percentage and a 2.75 GAA in 59 games. The team was forced to use Hutton on many occasions to replace the struggling goaltender. In hopes of redeeming his job, Allen has said that he has changed some of his training methods this summer and hopes to come into camp and prove that he is the starting goaltender.
The team had better hope that he can, because the team lost Hutton to the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason and replaced him with Johnson, who struggled in a one-year stint in Buffalo, albeit behind an atrocious defense. The team does have prospect Ville Husso waiting in the AHL, but many believe he still needs at least one year of seasoning there before he can challenge Allen for his job.
Key Storyline: The offense has been thoroughly upgraded in the last few months and it will be up to the team to find a way to gel and make it work. One key story will be whether they can get the breakout performance that everyone in the NHL has been waiting for from Vladimir Tarasenko. The winger posted three impressive seasons coming into last year, including a 37, 40, 39-goal seasons. However, while the 26-year-old still had a solid season last year, his 33 goals was a disappointment for a player who many felt was closer to a 40-goal scorer than a 30-point scorer.
One possibility to Tarasenko’s season could come down to the addition of O’Reilly. Adding a top-line center will be critical and if the two can co-exist, then you might see the development of a superstar as Tarasenko and Paul Stastny had limited chemistry together. There is also a likelihood that Maroon, who played together with Connor McDavid in Edmonton for a while, could add his physicality to that first line and give Tarasenko an even better chance to have a big season.
Overall Outlook: Looking at the massive changes to the team, especially at the forward position means the team expects to win now. The franchise has put a lot of expectations on head coach Mike Yeo and the team as they are expected to not just make the playoffs, but compete for the Central Division title. That’s a tough chore for any Central Division team if you assume that the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets will likely assume the first two spots in the division. That leaves just two playoffs spots for the rest of the division that includes the Minnesota Wild, who have been to the playoffs for six straight years, an improving Dallas Stars team, a young impressive Colorado Avalanche franchise and the Chicago Blackhawks who are trying to prove that their run isn’t over just yet. If the team fails to impress early on, that could put Yeo on the hot seat.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Snapshots: Top 100, KHL, Lindholm
Sportsnet released its full ranking of the Top 100 NHL Players of 2018-19 today, and to almost no one’s surprise Connor McDavid is at the very top. The Edmonton Oilers star center edged out Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Victor Hedman and Nathan MacKinnon in the top five, after winning his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer. The Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators lead the way with six players each, while the Detroit Red Wings were the only team to not have a single appearance on the list.
Amazingly, the New Jersey Devils had just a single player—Taylor Hall—appear on the list despite reaching the playoffs last season. Hall was awarded the Hart Trophy as league MVP after registering 93 points, and clearly the Sportsnet staff believes he deserved it for carrying the team without any other top 100 player on the roster.
- The KHL have moved to a different point system for this season according to Russian reporter Aivis Kalnins, just days before games are about to begin. The league will abandon their previous scoring system that awarded three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, and one point for an overtime or shootout loss in favor of the same two-point model the NHL currently uses. This system, critiqued by fans at times in North America, creates a level of virtual parity among all teams by keeping the standings squashed together for a longer period of time. In the KHL last season the first place team, SKA St. Petersburg, finished with 138 points in 56 games while last place, HC Yugra, collected just 48. In the new system, those extremes would have been 98 to 41.
- Par Lindholm is ready to fight for a spot in the NHL this fall, but that wasn’t true just a year ago. As Kristen Shilton of TSN reports, Lindholm had an offer to come over from the SHL in the spring of 2017, but decided it was better for his career to stay in Sweden for another season. It looks like he was right, as the now 26-year old center registered a career-high 47 points in 49 games during the 2017-18 season and proved that he was one of the most dependable offensive leaders in the entire league. Those 47 points put him fourth in the SHL and only nine points behind young phenom Elias Pettersson. He’ll now try to battle for the fourth-line center role with the Maple Leafs, behind a trio of stars that should get the vast majority of minutes.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Edmonton Oilers
Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. 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 2018-19 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: $75,521,166 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Jesse Puljujarvi (one year, $925K)
F Kailer Yamamoto (three years, $894K)
D Ethan Bear (two years, $798K)
Potential Bonuses
Yamamoto: $230K
Puljujarvi: $2.5MM
Bear: $70K
Total: $2.8MM
One major need is for the Oilers to get some help from their young players. Perhaps the most intruiging prospect is Puljujarvi, the team’s fourth-overall pick in 2016. After struggling in his rookie season, Puljujarvi showed some promise last year, scoring 12 goals in 65 games, but the 20-year-old still hasn’t proved that he can be a top-six winger yet. Regardless, the Oilers have resisted trading the prospect as they have received quite a bit of attention from other teams. Yamamoto also struggled in a early-season tryout last season as he played in nine games (tallying just three assists) before being sent back to juniors. However, after scoring 21 goals in 40 games with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, the speedy Yamamoto might be ready to claim a spot on Edmonton’s roster this season.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
G Cam Talbot ($4.17MM, UFA)
G Mikko Koskinen ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Tobias Rieder ($2MM, RFA)
G Al Montoya ($1.03MM, UFA)
D Jakub Jerabek ($1MM, UFA)
F Ty Rattie ($800K, RFA)
D Kevin Gravel ($700K, UFA)
F Jujhar Khaira ($675K, RFA)
F Pontus Aberg ($650K, RFA)
The team has many decisions to make with their goaltending next season. All three goaltenders are on one-year deals and will have to prove their value to the franchise for a new contract. Talbot will be the chief goaltender who must prove that last year’s disappointing season was a fluke as the 21-year-old went from a 2.39 GAA in 2016-17 to a dismal 3.02 GAA last year. His .919 save percentage in the 2016-17 season dropped to a .908. So which is he? If Talbot can rebound and show that he’s closer to the 2016-17 season, the team will likely lock him up for several more years, but if not the team may look elsewhere for goaltending help.
Another factor could be Koskinen’s presence. Brought over from the KHL, the 30-year-old veteran has been one of the top goalies in the KHL for the past six seasons, but whether he can make the conversion to the NHL is a whole new question. However, a good showing could change the way Edmonton looks at Talbot and his contract in one year. If neither is capable of locking down the No. 1 job, the team should find quite a few interesting names in the free agent market next season.
The team does have hopes that they can properly develop the speedy Rieder, who signed a one-year “prove it” deal, which could turn into a two-year deal considering that he’ll still be a restricted free agent next year. The 25-year-old has scored 12 or more goals for four seasons, but has never been able to take his game to another level and now is on his third organization in one year, which suggests that two organizations have given up on him. However, with his speed, he could be the perfect complement to the team’s top speed line.
Two Years Remaining
F Ryan Strome ($3.1MM, RFA)
F Zack Kassian ($1.95MM, UFA)
D Matt Benning ($1.9MM, RFA)
F Drake Caggiula ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Kyle Brodziak ($1.15MM, UFA)
D Keegan Lowe ($675K, UFA)
Strome was the key piece in the Jordan Eberle deal last offseason, but while he posted moderate numbers, he hasn’t yet proven that he will be a significant part of the future of the Oilers. The forward’s production continues to decline. The 25-year-old posted 13 goals, the same he did a year ago, but he also played a full season this year, as opposed to just 69 games in 2016-17. However, no one is quite sure what his role will be going forward although the team has two years to figure it out. Is he a top-six winger, who can put up a large number of goals or a bottom-six center? Caggiula has a similar issue. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of North Dakota, Caggiula has improved, posting 13 goals himself last year, but hasn’t been able to provide the breakout season the Oilers are looking for out of their youth. The 24-year-old struggled with consistency throughout the year as he had several significant streaks where he didn’t even register a point and disappeared on the ice, but again, the team has two more years to figure out what it has in him.
The team did add Brodziak to its roster to provide veteran depth to their roster. The 34-year-old center had a impressive year last year, posting 10 goals and 33 points, his best season since the 2011-12 season. In just his second season, Benning received a significant uptick in minutes played after several teammates went down with injuries. The 24-year-old blueliner, known for his big checks, played well, but is not likely ready for a top-four role as yet. However, with injuries already mounting, that may become inevitable.Read more
