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Edmonton Oilers examining extensions for Archibald, Nygard, Sheahan

Photo credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

By Zach Laing

Jan 22, 2020, 13:48 ESTUpdated: Jan 22, 2020, 14:09 EST

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The @Edmonton Oilers have begun examining the possibility of extending forwards @Josh Archibald, @Joakim Nygard and @Riley Sheahan, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Wednesday.

In his weekly 31 thoughts column, Friedman reported they wouldn’t be huge deals.

As Mark Spector reported last week, Edmonton is trying to close an extension with Zack Kassian. There’s common ground, but nothing is done until it is done. The Oilers will also investigate the possibility of extending Josh Archibald, Joakim Nygard and Riley Sheahan. These aren’t huge deals, but they’ve played roles in stabilizing their bottom six, which was caved-in last season. There are a few teams who like Archibald. I didn’t realize his father, Jim, played with Dave Tippett at NCAA North Dakota and was involved in a HUGE brawl with Wisconsin in January 1982.

The news doesn’t come as a big surprise given the trio have begun to find their own in the Oilers bottom-six — and as Friedman noted — have really helped to stabilize that group.

While Edmonton has struggled to find top-six wingers following trades of @Taylor Hall and @Jordan Eberle, their bottom-six has long been another area they’ve struggled.

I’d imagine Edmonton would look to give the trio each small contracts in the $1-2-million range, for one to two years. They’re underlying numbers haven’t been great, but they’ve also been amongst the unluckiest Oilers at 5v5 with PDO’s below 100.

On Twitter: @zjlaing