Report: Oilers one of five teams in on Brian Boyle

As Edmonton Oilers general manager works the phone looking for options to fill holes across the roster, a report surfaced Friday C Brian Boyle is one Oilers brass has reached out to.

The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun broke the news, tweeting “Boyle camp I believe has heard from 5-6 teams and Edmonton is indeed one of them.”

The Oilers showing interest in reaching out to Boyle’s camp intrigues me. Boyle isn’t a perfect player by any means, and at 34-years-old he isn’t getting younger.

Despite that, he scored 18 goals last season splitting time with New Jersey and Nashville; he was only three goals off from his career high of 21 goals he scored in 2010-2011. Seven of his 18 goals this season came on the power-play, too.

He brings a much different dynamic to his game that the Oilers have seen in recent years.

He’s big, standing at six-foot-six and 245 lbs. and is a strong faceoff player. Not only that, but Boyle is considered to be a great locker room guy and has been very well respected everywhere he’s gone.

His last five seasons have seen him play most of his time against middle-six and bottom-six players

So where could he fit in?

Boyle makes the most sense as a third-line centre for the Oilers. His underlying numbers aren’t spectacular and are rather average with his number slightly lower than that of his teammates.

He’s consistently put up over a point per hour of ice time in the last few years — something some bottom-six experiments the Oilers have tried out haven’t been able to do.

Over the course of his career, he’s never made more than $2.5-million in a season which makes me think it could be had for at least that much on a short-term contract.

If the Oilers are truly interested in Boyle, and that feeling is reciprocated, then I think he would make a lot of sense for a one deal paying him $2-2.5-million a year.

These next few days will be interesting, but I think Boyle would be a very safe bet on a short-term, veteran bet.

On Twitter: @zjlaing