Edmonton Oilers: Five players who won’t be back this season

The Edmonton Oilers said goodbye to a couple of fan favorites this offseason.

Bringing in guys like Duncan Keith, Warren Foegele, and Cody Ceci comes at the cost. Sometimes teams will need to say goodbye to different players to help create change. For the Edmonton Oilers, change was probably needed after the season they had just had getting bounced in the first round in four games.

So, today let’s dive in and talk about five different players the team said goodbye to this offseason:

Ethan Bear

Saying goodbye to Ethan Bear to add a player like Warren Foegele was not fun to watch. Bear is a young promising defenceman that will now big making his name in the NHL on a different roster. I think a lot of Oilers fans will be wishing him success in Carolina, especially the way Carolina messed with Montreal a few days ago.

Caleb Jones

Caleb Jones was dealt to the Blackhawks in the trade that brought Duncan Keith to the team. Keith might be older, but the leadership he brings to the team definitely is needed. We will have to wait and see on this deal as it really comes down to how Jones does in Chicago and Keith does in Edmonton. Either team can be a winner based on how the year goes.

Jujhar Khaira

The Oilers decision not to re-sign Khaira in my eyes comes down to the salary cap. He did not sign a massive contract with Chicago, but Edmonton just did not have any bit of money to spare on an extension for him. Khaira is big and physical, he definitely will be missed in the bottom six, but the team does have a handful of other players they can use this season.

James Neal

James Neal is one player very few fans will miss. Neal’s contract was too large and the team had to buy him out this offseason in order to use the money elsewhere, besides as last season’s postseason showed the bottom six with Neal in it was not that great anyway.

Adam Larsson

The last player on this list was one of the biggest surprises when he left the team. The Kraken selected him in the expansion draft and he signed with the new expansion team that will be playing Edmonton a lot this season. Larsson was a big part of the blue line in their own end and now the team might miss him a little this season.

The money they saved on Larsson was used to help bring back Tyson Barrie, and whatever you think about Barrie aside, he is pretty good offensively with this team. Edmonton did add a number of players so losing these five does come with some nice additions to the roster as well!