Over the weekend the Oilers made a couple of signings. First the team signed RFA goaltender Stuart Skinner to a two year two way deal worth $750,000 a year. Skinner is also waivers exempt in the first year meaning that the team can call him up and send him down without having to worry about another team claiming him. The 22 year old netminder led the AHL in wins last season and posted a 0.914SV%. Skinner is still young and is starting to show the ability that could land him in the NHL in some capacity in the next couple of seasons.
The other signing was a depth free agency move in Brendan Perlini. The left winger has appeared in 239 NHL games, scoring 46 goals but spent all of last season in the Swiss League after a rough 19/20 campaign with one game for the Hawks and 39 for the Red Wings. Prior to that Perlini had scored 12 goals in 46 games for the Hawks, and a 14 and 17 goal season with the Coyotes. He is 25 years old.
Perlini has been signed to a two way deal as well meaning the amount of money he makes differs depending on if he plays in the AHL or in the NHL. Perlini when he had success in the league was a decent finisher who wasn't just rolling a high SH%. He is a bigger player but he isn't the type of player to throw around 3 or 4 hits a game. Defensively he has always been a bit of a wild card and the numbers don't favour him great if his team does not have the puck.
Regardless this is a fine deal for the Oilers and represents a shift in the roster design. In the past, signing Perlini would have likely penciled him in automatically for a third line position, hoping he can return to his past goal scoring ways or heaven forbid, my favourite, "maybe he can score with McDavid." Now Perlini will compete for likely a fourth line position with the likes of Devin Shore, Tyler Benson, Dylan Holloway, and perhaps the likes of Cooper Marody.
Currently the Edmonton Oilers only have 39 out of 50 contracts signed going into next season. A couple of RFA's still need to be signed but expect several more deals like this to be announced over the next month; guys that will likely only be AHL options but might provide some competition for the lower parts of the lineup.
The forward group in Edmonton is deeper than it has been in a decade and signings like this shouldn't be given much thought. If Perlini comes into camp and impresses and pushes Holloway or Shore out of the lineup than that's fine but finally we are moving past the days where we are expecting gambles like this to be roster locks.
Thanks for reading.