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Kyle Turris was signed by the Oilers to a 2-year contract with an Average Annual Value of $1.65 million on the first day of free agency in 2020, two days after he had been bought out by Nashville Predators.
The skilled forward was initially pencilled in at the 3C position but failed that test in the opening weeks of the 2021 season. Reinvented as a right wing in 2021-22, he again failed to move the needle.
Over his two seasons in Edmonton, Turris has played 48 games, mustering just 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points with a dash-16 rating in traditional plus-minus.
Grumpy Oilers fans — and there are a lot of us these days — might take note that ten weeks after the Oilers rushed to sign Turris, Florida Panthers picked Anthony Duclair off the “bargain free agent” pile for a near-identical cap hit of $1.7 million. Last seen scoring against the Oilers last night, the Bill Zito signing has produced 27-36-63, +54 in 75 games as a Panther over the exact same span that Turris has been in Edmonton. Yes, hindsight is 20/20 but Duclair was a known commodity coming off a 23-goal season at age 24 in Ottawa. And while it’s probably unfair to lay blame for not signing a specific player here or there, it is a matter of record that there have been precious few bargain signings by the Oilers in the Ken Holland era.
It appears Turris will be replaced by Seth Griffith although this move has not yet been announced officially by the organization. Griffith is tearing it up in Bakersfield, where he leads the club in socring with 9-24-33 in 25 games. His current 7-game points streak has produced 3-12-15, including 5 primary assists in the Condors’ most recent game, a 6-3 win over Tucson.
A small skilled forward at 5’9, 185 pounds, the 29-year-old Griffith has 80 games of NHL experience, 1 of them with the Oilers when he was recalled on an emergency basis during the COVID crisis and contributed to the Oilers’ last win in Seattle back on Dec 18.
Going the other way from Bakersfield will be another small, skilled forward in Tim Soderlund . He was acquired in the controversial trade for Duncan Keith last July as the Chicago Blackhawks looked to shed his NHL-class contract and found a willing buyer in Ken Holland. Soderlund played 7 games for Bakersfield Condors, scoring 0 points, while spending part of the current season with the Oilers ECHL affiliate Wichita Thunder. Now the Oilers are placing him on unconditional waivers for purposes of giving him his outright release, presumably to return to his native Sweden.
- UPDATE: The Oilers confirmed the recall of Griffith later on Friday afternoon. For now he will be placed on the taxi squad. The club also formally placed Mike Smith on Injured Reserve and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on LTIR.
That’s the hard news. Let’s dip into the rumour mill:
Elliotte Friedman raised the name of Martin Jones in a spot on the Jeff Marek Show on Friday, although not in a later spot on Oilers Now so take that for what it’s worth.
Jones checks a few boxes, in that he is an actual NHL goaltender with 376 games of big-league experience on an affordable one-year contract of $2.0 million.
Currently Carter Hart’s backup in Philadelphia, he has played 15 games in 2021-22 with a 6-6-2 record, 3.31 goals against average and .908 save percentage for the struggling Flyers, who are currently enduring their second 10 -game losing streak of the season. (And you thought things were rough in Edmonton.)
Oil fans will remember Jones as the long-time goalie for San Jose Sharks, notably in the only playoff series the Oilers have won in the last decade and a half. Originally signed by Los Angeles Kings as an 18-year-old undrafted free agent after impressing as a training camp invite, Jones was involved in a three-way deal that landed him as the Sharks #1 goalie in 2015. After three strong seasons in San Jose, he signed a 6-year, $34.5 million extension only to see his game fall apart. After three consecutive seasons with an .896 save percentage and a collective Goals Saved Above Average of -49.6 goals, he was bought out by San Jose this past summer, latching on in Philly where he has seemingly recovered his game to some degree.
While Jones hardly represents a long-term solution, he would at least represent a different masked face in an Edmonton crease where familiarity has bred contempt. No word on what the price tag might be, though the option of Mikko Koskinen at 50% retained would balance the contract/cap hit obligations while filling the backup goalie hole for the Flyers. The Oilers presumably would sweeten the pot with another asset, though one wouldn’t think it would be too dear.
The report suggests Jones wouldn’t be the Oilers’ first option, suggesting such a deal shouldn’t be expected until Ken Holland has looked elsewhere, but it’s fair to say that the current situation in Edmonton is untenable and the clock is ticking.
How bad have things gotten in Oil Country? Let’s just say anytime the local team is in the sights of The Beaverton things probably aren’t going well.
Source: EdmontonJournal
