Edmonton Oilers Players in Review: Andrej Sekera

Hey guys, I am back with another Edmonton Oilers player in review, this time our biggest Free Agent Acquisition: Andrej Sekera.

Potential

Andrej Sekera was acquired on the first day of Free Agency 2015, signing a 6 year, 33 million dollar contract with a No Movement Clause added in for the first four years of the deal. My off season list of acquisitions before the draft looked like this:

Forwards: Soderberg (Traded and signed with Colorado)

Defenseman: 1-2 of these in order: Sekera, Franson (UFA), Green (signed with Detroit)

Goalies: Talbot

To get Sekera is a major coup. Sekera is a top pairing defenseman, top four at the very worst, playing top minutes on an awful Carolina Defense. In 2013-2014, he had his career high: 13 goals, 33 assists and a stellar 44 points. On the Carolina Hurricanes! Last season, he was a prime trade deadline candidate as he was dealt from Carolina to Los Angeles for a First Round Draft Pick (2016 since the Kings missed the playoffs) and prospect Roland McKeown. He only managed to play 16 games with the Kings as he was forced out of the line up due to injury.

Sekera is most compared to the recently traded Jeff Petry. Petry, like Sekera, recently signed the exact same contract with the Montreal Canadiens prior to Free Agency. Heck, Sekera is even wearing Petry’s old number 2. The Petry trade was a horrible one: a measly second rounder in 2015 and a conditional fifth rounder in 2015. Petry excelled during the playoffs with Montreal looking like a solid top four option.

Why bring up Petry? Sekera and Petry would of made an awesome first pairing. Petry and Sekera have very comparable “fancy stats”: both of them played first line minutes with their respective weaker teams, both being able to play everywhere in the lineup be it on the PowerPlay or Penalty kill, both being great skaters and both not being as physical as fans would like (I’m guaranteeing that people will not like Sekera’s lack of physical game, even though it’s not a huge issue with me). The biggest reason why Sekera is an upgrade though: the offensive production. Sekera does produce more than Petry.

Sekera is in that prime age category as he is 29 years old. The Oilers have not had a defensive acquisition of this magnitude since the Lubomir Visnovsky trade….way back in 2008. Like Petry, Sekera tends to make those around him better. The one biggest downside with Sekera: his health. He has not played a full NHL season. His career high is 76 and that was back with the Buffalo Sabres in 2008-09.

His potential is pretty much there: a top pairing defenseman.

Performance

Sekera had split production last year between the Hurricanes and the Kings. It was a fall from his career year of 44 points in 2013-14 with Carolina:

With Carolina: GP: 57 G: 2 A: 17 P: 19 PIM 8 +/-: -7

With Los Angeles: GP: 16 G:1 A:3 P:4 PIM: 6 +/- 4

Total: GP: 73 G: 3 A:20 P: 23 PIM: 14 +/-:-3

Projection

Sekera will instantly be the top guy in Edmonton on the back end. He will play heavy minutes and will have all sorts of opportunities to provide some points. However, based on his past history, injuries are a concern. So my projection will be:

GP: 70 G:7 A: 23 P: 30

It’s an optimistic projection, but I do not see any reason why he would not be able to produce some points. I can see him getting some Power Play time, although it is to be seen if it is on the top unit or the second unit.

Either way, that was one of the top guys on the market and the Oilers landed a big fish at a reasonable contract. If we had Petry Gah! What a great pairing that would of been.

Next: Edmonton Oilers Players in Review: Connor McDavid

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