The writing has been on the wall for a while with respect to Keith Aulie. The Oilers’ No. 7 defenceman for much of the year has seen himself passed on the team depth chart by prospect Martin Marincin, and twice in the past week has sat in favour of Oklahoma City call-up Jordan Oesterle.

On Sunday, Edmonton placed the defenceman on waivers.

The Oilers made a low-risk bet on Aulie in the summer, signing the 25-year-old as a free agent to a one-year, $800,000 contract. The 6’6”, 222-pound defenceman had once been highly regarded as a defensive prospect, and Edmonton’s brain-trust had several connections to him. He was part of the Toronto organization during Dallas Eakins’ time there, and of course general manager Craig MacTavish specifically mentioned pro scout Duane Sutter, who was familiar with the player from his time as a prospect for the Calgary Flames.

This wasn’t an analytics signing. Aulie has always had wretched underlying numbers, and has shown why this year with his propensity for handling the puck like a lit stick of dynamite. Aulie’s strengths are physical and defensive, and during his time in Edmonton they simply haven’t been good enough to compensate for his weaknesses.

But there’s no need to overstate this. The Oilers made a cheap bet on a player who intrigued them. It has not worked out; these things happen. It seems probable that one way or another Aulie’s time with the organization is over. If he isn’t claimed on waivers, it’s likely (based on the Oilers’ actions) that the team will opt not to issue a qualifying offer this summer.

The two defencemen were clearly the most interesting guys on the waiver wire yesterday. Calgary adds Albertan David Schlemko, who is a legitimate No. 6-8 defenceman and does a bunch of things well. It’s not a sexy pickup, but for a team in need of a little insurance on the back end it’s a reasonable one.

Tim Erixon was a guy I thought the Oilers might look at. He’s an offensive defenceman with impeccable numbers in the minors and decent underlying totals in the majors; he’s also 6’2” and 200 pounds. Edmonton could really use a(nother?) scoring defender and power play specialist, and given their repeated looks at Brad Hunt I thought they might be desperate enough to give Erixon a cameo. Instead, Toronto now will. It’s going to be a fun side story to follow over the rest of the season to see whether the Oilers missed out or if Erixon is just another low-risk dud, like Aulie.

Today’s list is a lot less interesting.

Rene Bourque would be intriguing at the right price, but has another year on a lousy contract and has not been effective for the Ducks since coming over in trade from Montreal. Paul Carey is a ‘tweener, Craig Cunningham a small ‘tweener.

Tye McGinn is the most interesting guy on the list. He’s reasonably big (6’2”, 205), does a number of things well and at 24 years of age is young enough that there might be a little untapped potential there. The problem is that he hasn’t scored much at all in 69 career NHL games and his minor-league numbers don’t suggest that’s about to change anytime soon. If the Oilers are worried about a warm body to fill Iiro Pakarinen’s spot and don’t want to handicap Oklahoma City a claim is plausible, but it’s not a move I’d make. If Edmonton needs a body, Andrew Miller and Curtis Hamilton are waiting on the farm and would doubtless love to get into their first NHL action.