'throw you a little bone': oilers look to ink key veteran d-men, insider says
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mattias ekholm of the edmonton oilers.
david bloom
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postmedia network
top nhl insider bob stauffer was back from vacation today and doing what he does best, spinning highly credible and provocative rumours about the future of the edmonton oilers franchise.
among the items that stauffer mentioned on oilers now was his certainty that the connor mcdavid contract will get done, but he added fans might well see a few contracts before that happens, including an expected new deal for d-man jake walman, but also an unexpected new contract for veteran d-man mattias ekholm, not to mention the possibility of edmonton signing star penn state d-man mac gadowsky next summer.
on mcdavid: “let’s just cut to the chase here. i still believe 100% that connor mcdavid will be extended in the off season by the edmonton oilers. i know there’s some people freaking out. there’s one of the toronto media guys who every day tweets an update on how many days until mcdavid becomes a free agent. i would think that maybe things (on a new edmonton deal) might get percolating a bit, maybe after leon draisaitl’s wedding… in the first weekend of august. so away we go.”
on other oilers signings: “there’s other players that might get signed before then to extensions. i’ll just throw you a little bone.”
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on ekholm, walman and mac gadowsky, son of penn state coach guy gadowsky: “remember that name, mac gadowsky, a 6’3, 200-pound left-shot defenseman, one of the top offensive defensemen in the ncaa last year as a sophomore. he has transferred to penn state… he’s going to be one of the targets for (nhl) teams out there. i might know a team, they got some experience on the left side of their defense, right? a team that’s got darnell nurse for several more years. and it wouldn’t surprise me if the oilers extended matthias ekholm, maybe even this summer. what about brett kulak? and then there’s jake walman. he’s going to get extended too. you could pretty much bet on that, though he’ll likely play on the right side. but you might need some younger blood coming as a left shot.”
my take
1. it was essential to get evan bouchard signed. stan bowman did so, with the price $10.5 million for four years, more than i would have liked as an oilers fan, but i’m still glad the deal was done and believe bouchard richly deserved such pay. he’s been the oil’s best d-men at even strength by a country mile for a few years now, especially in the playoffs, and he also aced it on special teams in the playoffs, adding penalty kill work to his repertoire this playoff season.
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2. walman is a late bloomer as an nhler, but he won’t turn 30 until february. he’s a good bet to be a strong two-way nhl in a top 4 role for the next three or four years. after that it gets iffy. but he’s certainly worth a new contract and it’s hard to imagine it won’t be in the $6 to $7 million per year range, depending on term. kulak, like walman, is a later bloomer. kulak always plays his best hockey in the playoffs (see chart below). kulak will be 32 in january. a new two or three year deal might well make sense, and no harm in getting it done sooner than later.
3. ekholm? he played strong two-way hockey until he got a groin injury mid-season. he wasn’t the same after that. he was ok, but had a few struggles after he came back in the playoffs.
ekholm will be 35 in the final year of his current deal this season. it might well be prudent to wait and see how he plays this year before extending him. at the same time, if the term and cap hit are reasonable, he’s a decent bet to play solid hockey for a few more years.
all told — and unless ekholm is looking to be super reasonable here on term and contract — the oilers should hold off here until they see how ekholm plays this year.
at the cult of hockey
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