Three Edmonton Oilers That Won’t Be Back Next Season

Warren Foegele

Warren Foegele is in a different boat than Tyson Barrie. He is a serviceable player, but his cap hit is too high for the services he brings to the team. His $2.75 million cap hit could be replaced by a much cheaper player.

The fact that he was a healthy scratch several times in the playoffs also shows that there isn’t much trust in the player from the team. When they brought in Foegele this last offseason I thought he would be a solid piece in the bottom 6.

The resurgence of Derek Ryan and the growth of McLeod made it so that Foegele didn’t need to be dressed on a game to game basis. The main thing that hurts Foegele is the fact that he isn’t on either of the special teams units.

To Be In The Bottom Six, You Must Be On The Special Teams

In this day and age of the NHL where there isn’t a need for a tough enforcer in the lineup, every player needs to contribute in multiple ways. This means if you are in the bottom six and you aren’t scoring points you need to find a way to help the team.

Look at the Edmonton Oilers bottom six, Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan, and McLeod, all of them kill penalties. These players are all likely to be back next season for the Edmonton Oilers next season. In a perfect world none of your top 6 play on the penalty kill. This means the Oilers will look at adding skilled penalty killers in their bottom 6.

So a player in the bottom 6 that doesn’t kill penalties will need to bring an extra element that no other player does. Warren Foegele may not be the only one that will be on the way out due to this.