Two European free agent signings offset quiet July 1st for Edmonton Oilers
Photo credit: SHL
The Edmonton Oilers were among the quietest teams on the opening day of NHL Free Agency, and may be looking to two European free agents to provide some surplus value on the roster.
The Oilers signed several European free agents during the playoffs this year. Of them, David Tomasek and Atro Leppanen are expected to push for the opening night roster.
Oilers will look to two European free agents to play key value roles after quiet free agency
Early in April, the Oilers finalized one year contracts for both Tomasek and Leppanen, who led their respective leagues in scoring.
Bother players are one year «prove-it»contracts, with Tomasek collecting $1.2M and Leppanen $877.5K. The risk is almost none for the Oilers, so they have the chance to bring these players over and see if their success can translate to the NHL.
If both players stick in the NHL, the Oilers will quickly realize that they've found value options to fill out the bottom parts of their lineup - or potentially even find a diamond in the rough. At the very worst, both players are assigned to the AHL and leave next summer, and the Oilers aren't worse off for the cap.
Oilers may have been smart to avoid massive overpays in 2025 free agency
Also given the amount of brutal contracts handed out in today's free agency, perhaps it was a good thing the Edmonton Oilers made no major moves.
There's still talent available to sign in the second day of free agency and the rest of the summer, and prices will likely come down from their heights today.
The Oilers have the option to upgrade via trade, and to bring up internal options on cheap contracts like Matthew Savoie.
Edmonton has yet to improve their team at all from last year, so more moves are surely coming from GM Stan Bowman and the front office. For now they haven't done anything bad, which is in itself a victory on July 1.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 2 | 683 ANSWERS Two European free agent signings offset quiet July 1st for Edmonton Oilers Do you think the Oilers should've done more to improve the team on July 1? | ||
| Yes | 477 | 69.8 % |
| No | 206 | 30.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
