For some reason, OilersNation readers really liked to read about Joel Persson this year.

The 23rd most-read article this year was about how Joel Persson signed in the SHL and how the Oilers lost a draft pick because of it.

Penned by yours truly, it was the final hat tip to an odd saga in the Oilers hunt for defencemen. He was signed ahead of last season after a few solid campaigns with the SHL’s Vaxjo Lakers. Despite his success in Sweden, he struggled to translate that to the NHL.

In 13 games with the Oilers, he scored two points and played an average of 15:19 a night. After starting the year with the big club, the Oilers assigned Persson to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors where he actually showed some promise putting up 16 points in 27 games.

In spite of that, the Oilers felt he wasn’t an organizational fit anymore and in an 11th-hour trade at the NHL trade deadline, he was off to Anaheim for a conditional 7th round pick — the condition being he play 25 games with the Ducks in the 2020-21 season.

With Persson having left North America and re-signing with the Lakers, the condition wasn’t going to happen.

On Twitter: @zjlaing