Edmonton Oilers Should Ink Eric Gryba to Extension

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Eric Gryba established himself in the NHL as a big, physically imposing player when he completely devastated Lars Eller during an intense playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens in 2014. The hit itself sparked major controversy. I personally thought the hit was cleaner than a plate fresh out of the dishwasher. Well maybe not that clean since Eller was leaking blood all over the ice and the refs needed to scrape up the mess.

Gryba likes to punish his opponents. He’s physical and likes to drop the mitts at any given time if he finds a dance partner willing to do so. I respect his initiative to protect his teammates and willingness to engage in scrums when an opponent is causing havoc.

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From a defensive standpoint, he is reliable. Although he has struggled at times this year, I have seen much improvement. Gryba plays a stay-at-home, hard nosed style of defense. Sure he makes the odd bad pass and his limitation of foot speed is sometimes exposed when players are attacking or he’s racing for the puck. But overall he’s a solid top 6 defender. The Edmonton Oilers need to have a player of Gryba’s ilk in their top 7 defence corps. He provides the lineup with nastiness, size and grit which is something that is heavily lacking throughout the roster.

At 27 years of age, Gryba is right in the thick of his prime years. He adds a valuable element of experience. No doubt he has a lot of solid playing years ahead of him still. The Oilers need players that can immediatley make an impact and we are starting to see just how useful Gryba truly is.

I like how Gryba has been partaking in offensive opportunities lately by jumping up in rushes. He is shooting the puck more and even drives hard to the net when the puck is loose in the offensive zone. His big frame creates a lot of room for himself out there. I see more poise and positive execution in his game. The jets have been turned on in Gryba’s body. That could have a lot to do with the fact that he’s a pending unrestricted free agent so he knows he must impress the organization if a new contract will be offered to him.

The reality is he has bitten off more than he can chew. Comparable to Jeff Petry’s situation when he was still an Oiler, Gryba has been given more than he can handle in many cases this season. He’s had a few nights where he logged significant minutes and was relied upon to step up and shut the opponent down. When Petry was basically relied upon as the number one defender in Edmonton, he clearly wasn’t suited to that role but he did the best he could and performed better than expected. At times I feel like Gryba is being used as a top 4 defensemen when he really is more suited to a third pairing, top 6 role with less responsibility. Needless to say I think he has held his own quite well.

Trading him at the deadline is no longer an option with his recent knee injury sidelining him long term. In my opinion, I don’t think Peter Chiarelli has even contemplated trading Gryba at all latley. Chiarelli has always been enamoured with Gryba’s style of play. He said he had always “Had a soft spot for Gryba”.

Whatever value Gryba had before the trade deadline is now faded into the mist but if the Oilers did decide to trade the pending unrestricted free agent when healthy, they could have expected to get maybe a 3rd or 4th round pick in return. The Oilers can still make use of him still so I don’t see a mid round pick being worth the trade, especially when Chiarelli is looking for players that can help his team right now.

With Gryba’s strong performance as of late, there is no doubt in my mind that Chiarelli wants to extend the thick-bearded rearguard. I’d wager a two-year deal between $1.5-3 million per year would be appropriate. It is rather unfortunate for a player to suffer a significant injury during a time when he is playing some of his best hockey. An inconvenient injury can easily derail a players inclining performance. However, we will see if Gryba can continue with his impressive play when he returns to the lineup in about a month. The season is reaching its the last portion of games so his performance from here on out will determine his fate as an Oiler.