Inside the Nation: Free Agency Breakdown

Happy Canada Day, Nation! With free agency kicking off today, there is plenty to talk about and Dusty Nielson wanted to go live to recap the day and discuss the moves that did and didn’t happen for the Edmonton Oilers.

To kick things off, Dusty jumped right in with a breakdown of the moves the Edmonton Oilers made today while also looking at the ones they didn’t make on this first day of free agency. Starting with Mike Smith’s one-year deal, Nielson broke down the contract and described why Oilers fans shouldn’t be too upset about the veteran netminder. Moving forward, he looks at the Andrej Sekera buyout and addresses the concerns that the Oilers should have traded him rather than adding dead space to their cap. The Oilers also upgraded their bottom-six a little bit with the Markus Granlund signing and Dusty offers a guess at where he’ll slot in the lineup. Third line? Fourth line? Ken Holland also took care of some housekeeping today as he re-signed both Jujhar Khaira and Alex Chiasson to fresh two years contracts, but does that necessarily mean the team will look the same as we head into next season? Not necessarily. Lastly, Dusty takes a few swings and guesses on what could come next for the Oilers, including the rumours that the team is considering bringing Pat Maroon back for a second tour of duty.