The Seattle Kraken have selected and signed Edmonton Oilers free agent defenseman, Adam Larsson.
With this move, there is now a hole on the defense on the right side for the Oilers. It isn’t all bad news, however, as there are other free agents that the Edmonton Oilers can sign to fill in that role.
Darren Dreger reported that the Oilers will re-engage talks with Tyson Barrie. After leading the NHL in points last season, Barrie is going to get a raise from his $3.75 million cap hit last year. If the Oilers are going to bring him back I see his cap hit being around the $5 million. The problem with bringing in Barrie in, is that if the Oilers want to bring Evan Bouchard to the NHL this season, there will be more powerplay defenseman than powerplay ice time. You would have Barrie 1st PP unit, then you would have to take a look at Nurse or Bouchard on the 2nd unit.
David Savard was one of the highly sought-after trade deadline players. He ended up getting traded to the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning. On Tampa, he played a shutdown role in the pair. He plays a very similar style of game to Adam Larsson. If the Edmonton Oilers are looking for a replacement for Larsson, I think Savard would be the best fit.
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Adding Dougie Hamilton is something that I believe is very unlikely to happen. He is likely going to be getting somewhere around $8 million per year. With that cap hit it would be hard to resign Darnell Nurse, as I think Nurse will be getting a large raise as well on his next contract. If the Oilers do sign Hamilton he would be a good addition as he would be able to play a solid shutdown role as well as an offensive role. The only concern would be the money required for him to come here.
Travis Hamonic
Travis Hamonic would be a slight downgrade for the Edmonton Oilers from Larsson. He is not a hot commodity like he was a few years ago when the Oilers were linked to bring in Hamonic. That being said Hamonic is still a better second pairing defenseman than the Oilers currently have. He wants to play in Western Canada, so this could be a good fit for both the team and the player.
There is nothing that can be done about Larsson going to Seattle. All that can be done now is to find the right player or players to fill the role that he used to have. Ken Holland already has his hands full this offseason. Hopefully, he makes all the right moves, to make the Oilers a Stanley Cup contender this coming season.