The Oilers have claimed Nathan Walker from the waiver wire and placed Iiro Pakarinen on waivers for the purpose of reassignment to the AHL.
Nathan Walker is a 5'8", 186 pound LW who has had *some* offensively productive seasons in the AHL, though nothing that is mindblowing. He was a former 3rd round pick of the Capitals, where he earned 7 games this season.
I wish I could say more about him, but from a fancy stats perspective he was pretty unspectacular. He was neither a major drag nor a boost to the shot attempts. His own shot generation was just OK.
Iiro Pakarinen is an interesting case. He feels like a tweener, but he hasnt played a ton of hockey in the last 2 seasons. He has the worst shot attempt percentage among Oiler forwards this year and his own personal shooting rate is in the tank compared to the rest of the team.
Pakarinen has been a decent PK forward in terms of limiting shot attempts against though. That probably doesnt feel like much praise given the poor state of the PK overall, but it's the truth. While many other forwards are averaging 90+ attempts against per hour on the PK, he is in the mid-70's.
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