What The Signing Of Ryan Murray Means For The Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers agreed to a one year deal worth $750,000 with 2012 second overall pick, Ryan Murray.

Ryan Murray has spent his whole career with the Columbus Blue Jackets except for last couple of season where he played on the New Jersey Devils, then last season with the Stanley Cup winning Colorado Avalanche. To me this is the a great depth signing for the Edmonton Oilers.

This gives the Edmonton Oilers a replacement for Kris Russell on the blue line. Russell was used at the 6th/7th defensemen last season. If there was a player who was struggling or injured.

This save the Edmonton Oilers from having to put a younger defenseman into action if there is a long term injury. Murray is a reliable dman. Although he didn’t play a single playoff game with the Colorado Avalanche last season he still can handle decent minutes.

Before last season on the Avalanche Murray averaged more than 18 minutes a game.  This is something that could be helpful for the Edmonton Oilers. I would much rather put larger minutes on a player that has handled them before than to a younger player like Broberg.

On the flip side if he comes into camp and gets outplayed by one of the younger players he can be sent to Bakersfield and his cap hit will no count against the cap. In Bakersfield he should be able to help mentor the younger defensemen and help them learn the game.

This signing has zero risk in my opinion. If he comes in and has success his cap hit makes him very valuable to this team as you can’t get a lower cap hit. If he comes in and struggles you bury him in the American Hockey League and he can mentor younger players while his cap hit doesn’t effect the NHL salary.

This is another good move by Holland this offseason. So far I don’t think he has made a bad move this offseason. He still has a few more things to do. He needs to re-sign McLeod and make this team cap compliant. How he does that is something I look forward to seeing.