Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Could the Oilers Have a Chance at Someone on this List of UFAs for Next Summer?

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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Oil on Whyte (Courville-Lynch)

Oilers: Depth added as Slater Koekkoek is back for two more seasons

The Edmonton Oilers have re-signed defenseman Slater Koekkoek to a two-year contract extension, worth $925K AAV as reported first by Mark Spector. The Oilers add to their depth by locking up Koekkoek, who can be trusted to step into the lineup at any time, and produce.
This two-year bridge deal leaves room to breathe for the Oilers, who have struggled on defense for the past few seasons and haven’t been able to find a defensive unit that makes everyone happy.
I think this defensive unit could turn out to be an improvement from last season, although the team lost Adam Larsson, Ethan Bear, and Caleb Jones, they have bounced back well and secured guys that could be solid replacements, and this now, finally, gives Bouchard a chance to move full time into the lineup.

BLH’s Thoughts: With how Ken Holland has structured the left-side of his defense, it looks to me that he’s expecting his young guns (Samorukov, Niemelainen, and Broberg) to take a season or two in Bakersfield and then be ready to jump up to Edmonton as the contracts of Duncan Keith, Kris Russell, and Slater Koekkoek are expiring.

Oilersnation (Lewis)

ON’s 2021 Prospects Countdown – No. 18: Jake Chiasson

Position: Centre / Right Wing
Shoots: Right
Nationality: Canada
Date of Birth: May 25, 2003
Drafted: 2021, No. 116 overall (EDM)
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 165 lbs

Jake Chiasson is the first player the Oilers have selected out of the Western Hockey League since they used their first- and third-round selections on Kailer Yamamoto and Stuart Skinner back in 2017.
Chiasson produced well on a very successful Brandon Wheat Kings team and scouts have spoken highly about his two-way game.
There’s some disagreement among scouts about Chiasson’s skating. Some say that he has a fluent stride and can quickly get up to top speed while others, such as Corey Pronman of The Athletic, suggest that Chiasson’s skating is an issue and needs major work.
He has good offensive instincts and creativity in the offensive zone and isn’t afraid to go into the dirty areas and work along the boards in order to retrieve the puck for his linemates.

BLH’s Thoughts: I think we won’t really know what the Oilers have in this player until the end of 2021-22 when the WHL has played a proper season. I can’t say much on him because I’ve not seen him play a shift and from the highlight packages available, they don’t tell me much aside from he’s not afraid to park his ace in front of the net and outwork the defenseman for goals.

This is fine, we’ll just watch him this year and see where he takes us.

NHLRumors.com

Lyle Richardson of Bleacher Report: Looking at some of the possible unrestricted free agents for next offseason and bold predictions of where they could end up and what their next contracts could look like.

Aleksander Barkov – Florida Panthers – Prediction: eight-year extension worth $9 million per season with the Panthers.
Patrice Bergeron – Boston Bruins – Prediction: re-signing with two years at $6 million.
Sean Couturier – Philadelphia Flyers – Prediction: a seven-year extension with the Flyers worth $8 million per.
Marc-Andre Fleury – Chicago Blackhawks – Prediction: a one-year with the Penguins worth $5.75 million.
Filip Forsberg – Nashville Predators – Prediction: an eight-year extension with the Predators at $9 million per.
Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames – Prediction: a seven-year deal with the Flyers at $8 million per.
John Klingberg – Dallas Stars – Prediction: a six-year extension with the Stars worth $7.5 million a season.
Evgeni Malkin – Pittsburgh Penguins – Prediction: three-year extension with the Penguins at a $6 million cap hit.
Kris Letang – Pittsburgh Penguins – Prediction: three-year extension with the Penguins at a $4.25 million cap hit.
Morgan Rielly – Toronto Maple Leafs – Prediction: a seven-year extension with the Kraken at $9 million a year.
Mika Zibanejad – New York Rangers – Prediction: a six-year extension with the Rangers at a $9 million cap hit.

BLH’s Thoughts: I wonder if the Penguins finally decide to turn the page on the Crosby era and move on from Malkin and Letang? Malkin’s been rumored to be heading to Florida for a few years now and it seems that Letang is always on the NHL trade boards as we’ve approached the end of his current deal. Ron Hextall needs some cap flexibility and those two take up a significant chunk of Pittsburgh’s cap.

I don’t think that the Oilers have a chance at anybody on this list except for one person, Marc-Andre Fleury. He’ll be 37 next season and we all know Ken Holland loves himself a cagey veteran. Top that off with the fact that Georges Laraque said this past season on Oilers Now that MA Fleury would go to Edmonton to help the Oilers win.