On Tuesday, veteran right wing Radim Vrbata officially signed
with the Arizona Coyotes, returning to his long-time team. Given the terms of
the deal, this should certainly be regarded as good news for the Coyotes, a
team which had an obvious need at right wing and may have adequately filled it
on the cheap.

It should also be regarded as bad news for the Edmonton
Oilers, who not only saw a division rival get stronger but also missed a chance
to add a player who could have done much to shore up their own weak starboard
side.

Although Vrbata is returning to a team he has familiarity
and comfort with, nobody should reach the false conclusion that he was always
going to sign there. Vrbata previously rejected a lowball Coyotes offer to go
to Vancouver, and this signing came more than a month into free agency.
Additionally, Vrbata accepted a deal for a) only a single season b) a base
salary of $1.0 million and c) various
performance bonuses that could climb just over $2.0 million if the Coyotes climb
from 78 points to Stanley Cup champion next year.

Essentially, if things go really well next season, he may
just barely out-earn Nail Yakupov. That’s a deal the Oilers certainly could
have bettered, if they’d had a mind to do so.

The potential for Vrbata to play extremely well should not
be ignored either. He scored 31 goals in 2014-15, while firing 3.4 shots/game
and converting them at an 11.6 shooting percentage. Last year he shot the puck
at nearly the same rate (3.2 shots/game) but had his shooting percentage fall
through the floor. It may be a sign of his age, but his shooting percentage has
dipped before and always rebounded. It may be a stretch for him to score 30 goals,
but a 20-goal campaign would be utterly unsurprising.

The Coyotes, who finished eight points ahead of the Oilers
in the Pacific division standings last year, have had a busy summer, with
defenceman Alex Goligoski the team’s most notable addition. Vrbata, along with
fellow UFA signing Jamie McGinn, will add some veteran heft to a lineup that
includes a ton of promising young players.

Edmonton undoubtedly hopes to surpass Arizona this year, and
those hopes would certainly have been furthered by the addition of a player
like Vrbata (or Kris Versteeg, or Teddy Purcell, and so on) who could have
provided some certainty in a second line role. 

Vrbata scored 13 goals in a down
year last season. The trio of non-Eberle incumbents on the Oilers depth chart
managed just 16 combined. Yet one of them, or 18-year-old Jesse Puljujarvi,
will now need to do the job.

I don’t question for a moment that Peter Chiarelli is hoping to
see his team make big strides this year. That’s clearly been his aim with this
exceedingly busy summer. It’s just hard to square that desire or activity with his
seeming complacency as the Vrbatas and Versteegs and Wisniewskis of the world
leave the free agent market.