Warren Foegele’s time in Edmonton has come and gone after three seasons. Acquired by the Oilers in the summer of 2021 from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for defenceman Ethan Bear, he immediately fit in well in the bottom six.

Over the years he showed an ability to play up and down the lineup, and in 2023-24, he had a career year, posting bests in goals, assists and points, with 20, 21 and 41, respectively.

At 5v5, Foegele was a force for the Oilers this season. The team was always driving play in the right direction with him on the ice, controlling the shot attempt share, scoring chance share, and expected goal share at above-average rates. While he spent most of his time on the third line alongside Ryan McLeod, there were times during the season when he slid up the lineup to play alongside Leon Draisaitl, including in the playoffs.

While his underlying numbers had always been strong, so were his individual numbers at 5v5. He took tons of shots, and generated a plethora of scoring chances. In fact, his scoring chance and high-danger scoring chance rates were second on the team last year to only Zach Hyman.

His shooting percentage was above average, but the biggest issue was that his linemates had issues producing offence. Ryan McLeod, for as good as his impact defensively was, struggled himself to score and set up his teammates to do so. Foegele fell victim to some of that this season, as, with the two of them on the ice at 5v5, the Oilers scored on 6.36 percent of their shots, well below the team average of 8.81.

Foegele’s impacts on the ice were always excellent. He drove offence at a 12 percent rate above league average, provided league average defence, and was rock solid on the penalty kill, providing value at a three percent rate above league average, according to hockeyviz.com. All in all, his contributions came bordering that of a low-end first-line player.

The Oilers opted not to re-sign Foegele, letting him walk in free agency where he signed a three-year, $3.5-million AAV deal with the Los Angeles Kings. Ironically enough, the Oilers signed one of the Kings’ free agent wingers in Viktor Arvidsson, who the Oilers will utilize in their top six in hopes of generating more even-strength offence than Foegele was able to.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.