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&#8217;s Pierre LeBrun broke the news, tweeting &#8220;Boyle camp I believe has heard from 5-6 teams and Edmonton is indeed one of them.&#8221;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Boyle camp I believe has heard from 5-6 teams and Edmonton is indeed one of them <a href="https://t.co/LlunbM2Cdi">https://t.co/LlunbM2Cdi</a>
&mdash; Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) <a href="https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1144631974436511745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Oilers showing interest in reaching out to Boyle&#8217;s camp intrigues me. Boyle isn&#8217;t a perfect player by any means, and at 34-years-old he isn&#8217;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&#8217;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&#8217;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&#8217;t spectacular and are rather average with his number slightly lower than that of his teammates.
He&#8217;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&#8217;t been able to do.
Over the course of his career, he&#8217;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

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."



https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1144631974436511745

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

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