Oilers Sign Scrivens, Waive Larsen [Updated]

The Oilers have placed Defenseman Philip Larsen on Waivers and signed Ben Scrivens to a 2 year deal at perhaps a little more than 2 Million Dollars per season, as per Aaron Ward.

#Oilers place defenceman Philip Larsen on waivers.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 3, 2014

Oilers sign Scrivens to a 2 year deal...thought to be just over 2 mil per year. #TSN

— Aaron Ward (@aaronward_nhl) March 3, 2014

LARSEN

I like Philip Larsen as a potential NHL player, I really do. He’s a speedy skater who can fearlessly join the rush. His problem is one of size. He doesn’t have any. At 6’ and 182 pounds (listed) he is not physically capable of surviving on a Defense that is already undersized. As an Oiler he was just another player who couldn’t handle the opposing forwards. I hold out hope for him as an NHLer on a team where they have size already but are perhaps deficient at puckmoving.

That’s not to say the Oilers have a lot of puck-movers, because they actually don’t, but they just cant afford to use up a roster spot on a Defenseman who can be mistaken for one of the kids from Glee. Larsen just may end up a Tweener. By all accounts he was heads and tails above the group down in OKC but clearly a step behind NHL competition.

As a Baron he has 7 points in 7 games, as an Oiler he just 6 points in 17 games.

I imagine any attempt to move Larsen has ultimately ended with the other team trying to saddle the Oilers with a contract or player they didn’t want in return. At this point the Oilers are better off not spending the money or the roster space on Larsen. If he passes through waivers I can see the Oilers moving him along but taking an AHL forward back.

SCRIVENS

I love the term and the Cap Hit at a little over 2M. Scrivens is the right age, intelligent, and has performed extremely well in his NHL career to date. He has only played 58 games and faced less than 2000 shots in the NHL and that’s what makes this still a gamble. The sample size on Scrivens is small but he has delivered to date. In 2 years the Cap will be significantly higher (by all projections) and with the Oilers locking up all of their major talent already there should be plenty of room in the budget to pay Scrivens if he earns it.

The Professor has a .940sv% with the Oilers this year and that is just shy of miraculous. That number is insanely high and we should expect it to fall back down to Earth, but even if he falls back down to Earth and then lower still, that contract will not be a burden to the team.

I look forward to Eakins just letting Scrivens play 4-5 games in a row to see how things look under a Starter’s workload. I’m excited about this deal.

DUBNYK

He isn’t an Oiler anymore and now there’s no guarantee that he’ll even be an NHL player. The Preds have placed him on Waivers. Many had believed the poor Oiler Defense was to blame for his numbers collapse, but it seems as though that thinking was way off. I don’t know what happened to Dubnyk, he wasn’t always this bad. He’s made a lot of money in the NHL already so I wont feel too bad if he doesnt, but I hope he can find his game again.

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