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COLLEGE FREE AGENTS AND THE EDMONTON OILERS
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Lowetide
Mar 11, 2016, 21:53 ESTUpdated:
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The Bakersfield Condors (photo by Mark Williams) are in action tonight and are going to need a strong run to make the postseason. Once the season is over, Edmonton will no doubt allow free agents (restricted and unrestricted) to move along and replace them with fresh blood. Since the Oilers 2014 draft (after Leon Draisaitl) involved college and tier two league draft picks, the procurement cupboard is bare. One area Edmonton can look for talent? College free agency.

SIGNING SEASON IS OPEN!!

We have already seen a few signings, including one CHL and three NCAA prospects getting their pro contracts:
Edmonton has 49 names on their current 50-man list, but a pile of UFA and RFA—along with trades, will cull the herd over the summer. As mentioned above, the signing options from Edmonton’s own procurement stable is very poor. 
  • D William Lagesson—NCAA freshman, very good at the WJs.
  • F Tyler Vesel—Two-way college player, jury is out.
  • L Evan Campbell—He does not appear to be a future NHL player.
  • G Zach Nagelvoort—He hasn’t played much this year, never a good sign.
  • F Aidan Muir—Big forward not progressing.
  • G Miroslav Svoboda—Big goalie miles away.
  • G Keven Bouchard—QMJHL goalie, I don’t think they sign him in the spring.
  • D Ziyat Paigin—Signed for one more KHL year.
We have been over this material before, but it serves as a backdrop to the news about incoming and available NCAA talent. Several recent articles are worth your attention:
  • Chris Dilks article at SB Nation identifies 15 players worth looking at.
  • Ryan Lambert at Puck Daddy has a look at some of the same names, but adds a few more and some nuance around signing season.

OILERS SHOPPING FOR ANYONE SPECIFICALLY?

I invite you to shop those lists from Mr Dilks and Mr Lambert, I do not see a Zdeno Chara or a Milan Lucic among that crew. There are two players I like:
  • F Drake Caggiula, University of North Dakota. A terrific scorer, he has good speed and a range of skills. 5.10, 180.
  • D Troy Stecher, University of North Dakota. Right-handed blue with all kinds of offense and he is an excellent skater. 5.10, 190.
Both men are smaller, skilled players, but that is often what is available via college (Edmonton has signed men like Jordan Oesterle, Andrew Miller and Mark Arcobello via college in recent seasons). One curio that might interest Oilers fans: The Dilks article mentions Ahti Oksanen, a player Jim Matheson connected to the Edmonton organization about one year ago:
  • Matheson: The Oilers may also be interested in
    O’Connor’s teammate, Finnish defenceman/forward Ahti Oksanen, also a
    free-agent. The six-foot-three, 205-pound Oksanen had 25 goals in 40
    games this past season when moved from the back-end.
  • Source
Oksanen is now a full-time forward and scored 15 goals in 36 games so far this season. Bob Green’s whiteboard may have Oksanen’s name on it again this spring. We wait.
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