Shattenkirk’s agent George Bazos says he’s trying to get a contract not a PTO from teams but he does say the Oilers would be a good fit for his client on and off the ice
Is there miscommunication going on here, or are all free-agent right-shot defensemen eyeing the Edmonton Oilers for a handout or an invitation to training camp following their trip to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final this past June?
Now, we’re looking at Justin Schultz Part 11 after Seattle took a pass on resigning him after two years there. Or, the latest, Kevin Shattenkirk, unencumbered after Boston didn’t want him back.
Notice the trend?
All shoot right and have played the point on the power play, either here like Barrie, before he was traded to Nashville in the Mattias Ekholm deal and Schultz, before he was sent on his way to Pittsburgh where he won two Stanley Cup rings.
Barrie, 33, and Shattenkirk, 35, have accumulated 210 PP points in their NHL careers. Schultz, 34, has 125. DeAngelo, 28 years old, 89. The Oilers have Evan Bouchard, maybe the best PP point QB outside of Cale Makar, but what if he got hurt? Then what?
Could lefties Nurse (34 career PP points) and Ekholm (48) really run the NHL’s best power play in his absence, maybe for a short time. Could righty Troy Stecher with 11 PP points in his almost 500 games?
Shattenkirk’s agent George Bazos says he’s trying to get a contract not a PTO from teams but he does say the Oilers would be a good fit for his client on and off the ice. He’s right, but would Oilers have enough money to sign him to a one-year deal now?
Here’s the thing:
The Oilers already have a surplus of right-shot D in Bouchard, Stecher, Ty Emberson and Josh Brown, the free-agent signed to a three-year contract in July. They also have farmhand Phil Kemp knocking on the door; he was practicing with the team in the finals, so he is close to being ready.
Truth is, the Oilers, if adding a right-shot D will likely wait until the trade deadline, and wouldn’t the ultimate shutdown blueliner Adam Larsson be the top 4 guy target if Seattle is out of the playoffs and Larsson would OK a trade back here for a few months after he left in free-agency for family reasons?
The Oilers only have three veteran left D in Nurse, Ekholm and Brett Kulak. That’s seven guys on one-way contracts. If they’re looking for an extra experienced NHL body, couldn’t they use a left-shot defenceman on a tryout, at least as much?
Now the Oilers always sign guys to PTO’s, just in case veterans get hurt in exhibition games. Last year it was forwards Sam Gagner and Adam Erne, who both got two-way contracts after the pre-season. Usually, teams are doing agents a favour, inviting free-agent veterans to camps, but so far nothing from the Oilers.
Right now, the team has just $946,000 in cap space to add another contract, barring Evander Kane going on LTIR if he needs sports hernia surgery and we’ll find that out when he goes through medicals when camp opens in two and half weeks.
There are 13 forwards on one-way deals and seven D.
Changing gears
Brad Malone, the long-time Bakersfield Condors’ captain who once joked that he wore 24 “because I’m the 24th man on the (23-man NHL) depth chart” has officially retired at 35 and he’s starting his coaching career with the OHL’s junior Oshawa Generals. His title is player development coach.
Oshawa is where Derek Laxdal, the former Oil Kings’ head coach was before he got the AHL Coachella Valley (Seattle farm team) job over the summer.
Malone, the son-in-law of Kirk Muller, played 41 Oilers regular-season games since joining the organization in 2017 and two in the playoffs in 2022. “He was really good with our young players,” said Bakersfield GM Keith Gretzky.
“I’m not surprised he’s getting into coaching and not surprised it’s Oshawa because of Rocco (Tullio owner) and because of his son Ty (former Oiler farmhand now with Buffalo). Ty knows what Brad can do (as a teammate in AHL). It’s a good stepping stone for Brad to work his way up,” said Gretzky. “We’ll see how it is with the captaincy down here with Brad gone. We’ve got lots of guys (to pick from). Kemp, (Drake) Caggiula, (Seth) Griffith.”
This ‘n that
• Big question is how much Connor McDavid will get in his extension to kick in for the 2026-27 season in after Leon Draisaitl’s $14 mil which is 15 percent of the overall Oiler cap. The most a player can get is 20 per cent, and the cap ceiling could be $100 mil in two years. Can’t fathom McDavid taking a dime less than $18 million AAV, and that’s a hometown discount.
No PTO signing for (Sam) Gagner yet but his agent Judd Moldaver (Connor McDavid’s agent) continues to work the phones trying to get the 35-year-old a camp look somewhere. Fifteen players have signed PTO’s to attend NHL camps. Latest: defenceman Calen Addison (Ottawa) and 38-year-old Nikolai Kulemin, back from the KHL after 669 NHL games, also the Senators. Kulemin’s 16-year-old son is playing hockey in Toronto.
• As the Oilers website says, local product James Hamblin, who has an outside shot at a 4C or 13th forward slot, has changed his number from 57 to 52 to match the age of his mum Gina, who died from cancer Sept. 5, 2017.
• Cody Ceci might not get his old No. 5 in San Jose but Emberson’s No. 6 is open, obviously, after the trade for one another. No. 5 is ex-Oiler Matt Benning’s number with Sharks.
Oilers second-round draft pick goalie Eemil Vinni, who could be the Finnish U20 starter at the world junior over Christmas, won’t be here for Young Stars. He’s staying with his club team back home. Oilers will use free-agent signee Connor Ungar and draft pick Nathaniel Day (OHL) as their goalies in the Young Stars tournament.
• Hard to believe winger Dominik Kubalik, who had five points in Chicago’s stunning first playoff game 6-4 win over the Oilers in the spring of 2020 at Rogers Place and the go-ahead third-period goal in the Hawks’ clinching W of that playoff series, is back in Europe. Kubalik played for current Oiler GM Stan Bowman in Chicago. He just signed for a year in Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, with an out for an NHL contract before Dec. 15.
Former Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer, behind the bench for their WHL title in 2021-22, is now head coach of WHL Spokane Chiefs after the last two years as a Winnipeg Jets’ assistant coach.
• The Oilers Young Stars roster hasn’t come out yet for the tournament in Penticton, but the prospects will open against Vancouver Canucks youngsters Sept. 13, play Calgary on Sept. 14 and have an afternoon game with Winnipeg Sept. 16…Eric Thurston, head coach of the Golden Bears for six years and for the past two seasons behind the bench for the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm, is now associate GM and associate head coach of the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters.
