It’s the middle of July, all of Hockey’s biggest “Insiders… are vacationing in cottage country, and the Oilers appear to be waiting for the market to settle before they can make some more moves. And maybe, just maybe, the Oduya signing will help them shape their roster a little more to their liking.
We know the Oilers must want to do something. They have too many defenders occupying similar roles on one-way contracts. They also have too much money tied up on depth contributors. Here’s the defensive depth chart today:
Sekera Jultz Klefbom Fayne Nikitin Gryba Ference Reinhart Nurse
They have 7 established NHL defensemen. The GM has stated he thinks Reinhart will play for the Oilers this year. And, their most promising rearguard prospect has spent 2 extra seasons in the OHL developing, waiting for this moment to make a real push for an NHL job.
That’s nine bodies and eight defensemen is generally the max number an NHL club wants up with them at any time. 7 is good when everyone is healthy. 8 for the Oilers would mean most likely that one of Reinhart or Nurse would be sitting games in the press box instead of playing 20 minutes a night against pros. That would be a situation the Oilers would probably want to avoid.
In fact, if nothing can be done about removing a Nikitin or a Ference from the roster then it is probably prudent to have BOTH Reinhart AND Nurse return to the AHL as a tandem. Reinhart played a significant portion of his WHL career on the right side. That duo would playing 25 minutes a night for the Bakersfield Condors would represent Edmonton’s long term interests well.
News broke this morning that Oduya signed with Dallas for 2 years. This will hopefully be a catalyst to some more D signings over the next few days. The Oilers will want this because invariably some teams will lose out but still need to fill spots. Somebody wanted to sign Oduya but couldn’t. Somebody will try to sign Franson but miss out. Eventually a cheap short-term solution will be the next best option.
Nikita Nikitin is not a sexy choice to fill a roster spot, but if the Oil retained half his salary then some team is only going to only pay 2.25M for an NHL defender and will have to give up very little (if anything) to do it. He only has the one year remaining on his deal and should be able to deliver full value on 50% of his contract.
He is a 29 year old 6’4… 220 pound defender with a pretty decent shot. He is capable of making good defensive plays just as easily as he is making boneheaded plays. If he’s placed in a 4-6 role he should be good enough to fit the role. The Oilers don’t need to move him. They could, if need be, keep him in their top 7 and ride out the rest of his contract. Maybe he shows up in excellent health and the new coaching staff gets him moving in the right direction again. The reality is that he hasn’t even hit the 300 NHL game mark. He can still iron out some inconsistencies, although he’s running out of time to prove he can do it.
As a last resort the Oilers can buy him out after the Jultz contract is settled, but they will definitely be hoping to find an NHL GM who failed to land the defender he wanted on the UFA market first. As desirable as it is to get Nikitin off the team, the extra 1.5M it would cost on the Cap in 2016-2017 to buy out Nikitin today should be avoided if at all possible. Alternatively, a trip to the AHL will only save the Oilers 900k on the cap but it will open a spot for someone like Reinhart or Nurse should they win a job.
I still support buying out Nikitin if Chiarelli has irons in the fire that could land the Oilers a better Right Handed Defender, but if there isn’t anything imminent then perhaps they do nothing at all.
The Oilers have assets on defense they can move if they find the right partner. The other player I haven’t mentioned is Ference. Unlike Nikitin, Ference has a better reputation around the league. It never makes sense to me, but people like Ference find themselves in demand long after they appear to be able to live up to the jobs they’ve been given. He has 2 years remaining on his deal and that’s what should keep the smart teams away, but I reiterate that a lot of NHL moves don’t make sense to me when they go down.
So it’s the middle of July and we wait to find out who missed out on a Johnny Oduya or maybe just doesn’t want to pay a Cody Franson. Someone might decide that this isn’t the year to spend big and take the Oilers up on an offer to acquire an NHL defender at a discounted rate.
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