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The Oilers should claim Brandon Pirri
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Zach Laing
Nov 16, 2019, 15:11 ESTUpdated: Nov 16, 2019, 15:58 EST
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The bottom-six forwards for the Edmonton Oilers can be described as sitting somewhere between complete wasteland and a nuclear fallout zone.
Things are not good and Edmonton is not getting any contribution from the likes of @Jujhar Khjaira, @Patrick Russell, @Markus Granlund, @Josh Archibald or @Riley Sheahan.
And that’s why the @Edmonton Oilers should put a waiver claim in on @Brandon Pirri, who was waived by the @Vegas Golden Knights Saturday.
Pirri has found himself up and down throughout his career in the NHL having stints in Chicago, Florida, Anaheim, New York and most recently, Las Vegas.
In every stop, Pirri has shown a constant ability to put up points as a bottom-six player scoring 120 points in 270 NHL games. All the while, he’s been a consistent positive possession player for the majority of his career.
In the last three years, Pirri has played 44 NHL games with 530 minutes at even-strength. He’s carried a 54.52 CF%, 59.57 GF% and a 51.32 xGF%. Oh, he’s also scored to the tune of 2.05 P/60 at even-strength.
Just for fun, here’s how those numbers rank against Oilers players in even-strength with over 200 TOI during that time frame.
CF% — 3rd
GF% — 1st
xGF% — 11th
P/60 — 5th
So suffice to say, Brandon Pirri is far and away a better player that lots of what Edmonton has had to offer in the last few years in the bottom-six.
With a small sample size of only 11 games this year, his analytics have all dipper to career lows as have his production rates. His most common linemates have been Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin who don’t exude offensive confidence in anyone.
It’s important to note Pirri’s tough year thus far, but it’s best to not put too much weight into it based on his career averages.
With the woes of Edmonton’s secondary scoring, I think it absolutely suffices to say that taking a shot on Pirri to be a decent bottom-six contributor would be worth the shot.
Edmonton has the fifth-last waiver priority in thanks to their great season thus far, so who knows if the team even has the option to claim him.
On Twitter: @zjlaing

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