According to the tweet below from ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun and a report on theScore, the Edmonton Oilers have made contact with three if the bigger UFAs available on the market.
The Oilers will try for a UFA d-man today, they've already contacted camps for the likes of Franson, Sekera, Green, among others…
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 1, 2015
Mike Green and Cody Franson are right-handed shooting offensive dmen. Sekera is a two-way dman who shoots left. Of the three I’d prefer to have Green and Sekera but I’m of the opinion that they will cost dearly. Franson is the youngest of the three and he’s more likely to take the body more as his nearly 600 hits over the last three seasons tells us.
Here are Mike Green’s advanced stats:
Mike Green made over $6 million dollars last season and at 29 years of age we can be sure he’ll be asking for at least $7 million per year and term. This could be his last contract and he’ll want to make it a good one. Personally I see Mike Green in the same vein as Dennis Wideman. Signing Mike Green would definitely add that right-handed dman that the team sorely lacks but what Mike Green would the Oilers be getting? The one that put up 73 points in 61 games or the one that put up 38 points in 70 games and is that sort of inconsistency worth $7 million dollars? Justin Schultz could surely put up those numbers for $3 million less.
Sekera’s advanced stats:
Andrej Sekera is also 29 years old and was paid $2.75 million last year. I’d have to bet he’s looking for close to $5 million per season. Sekera wouldn’t be putting up the point totals that a Mike Green or Cody Franson would but he’s a stabilizing force on the back end. He’s a possession defender basically. I like his career PDO (99.6) and his Career Corsi% (51.5), compared with a Duncan Keith’s career PDO (100.4) and Corsi% (54.8) or a Jeff Petry (PDO-98.3, Corsi%-47.4) Things are looking good there. A definite replacement for Martin Marincin who was a guy the stats community liked.
Cody Franson’s advanced stats:
Cody Franson banked $3.3 Million last year and if I were a betting man, he’ll be seeking at least $6 million per season for 5 years or more. The 27 year old comes in as the youngest candidate for signing but I don’t have a lot of faith in the Oilers getting this guy. I believe he’ll go back to Toronto to play under Mike Babcock. IF the Oilers did succeed in convincing Franson to come to Edmonton they’d be getting a physical force and a player who shoots the puck. The fact that he’s 6’5″ and over 213lbs doesn’t hurt either.
Apparently the Oilers media community thinks that Sekera will be an Oiler today at some point.
Look for @EdmontonOilers to get another high end d-man today. As of now I would be leaning heavily towards it being Andrej Sekera.
— Gene Principe (@GenePrincipe) July 1, 2015
Of the 3 D mentioned by @Real_ESPNLeBrun Sekera might make the most sense. Could use a veteran left shot puck-mover on the back-end
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) July 1, 2015
It’s gonna be a busy day folks! I’m totally stoked for this summer to really get going and today is just the tip of the iceberg! Thanks for reading and please follow us on Twitter @beerleagueheroe and Facebook!