2 UFA Defensemen Main Target For Edmonton Oilers

Slater Koekkoek

Slater Koekkoek is a left-handed defenseman from the Chicago Blackhawks. Koekkoek is 6"2 and 193 pounds, so he isn"t an overpowering defenseman. He was the 10th overall pick in 2012. The Oilers are looking for a sixth or seventh defenseman and Koekkoek would fill that role. He played half his career in Tampa Bay and the last half in Chicago. As he turns 26, he is needing a new contract or could even be looking into being a PTO candidate.

In the shortened 2020 season, Slater Koekkoek had a career-high 10 points in just 42 games played. He has started to finally pick up more minutes than he did at the start of his career. He was playing like a man possessed in the return to play series against the Edmonton Oilers last August.

Ben Hutton

Ben Hutton is a 27-year-old defenseman from the Los Angeles Kings. He scored 16 points in 65 games last season along with an average time on ice of 18 minutes. Throughout most of his career, he has scored over 15 points a season. Hutton puts up about 100 shots a season. but doesn"t hit the net a lot. The Kings haven"t been that great in a while, so with a new coaching strategy, Hutton could do better.

How Do Oilers Fit UFA Defensemen?

The first thing is the Oilers are waiting on the situation with Ethan Bear. Holland thinks Bear will sign within the next two weeks. Then they have to fit either one under the cap and then fit them into training camp.

The Edmonton Oilers will try to fit ten defensemen into training camp.

• Ethan Bear
• Matt Benning
• Evan Bouchard
• Philip Broberg
• Caleb Jones
• Oscar Klefbom
• William Lagesson
• Adam Larsson
• Darnell Nurse
• Kris Russell

They will need to make room for one of these two at camp. They might be able to afford 11 at camp if they drop a goalie or a forward.

Conclusion

Because Slater Koekkoek will possibly want to sign a PTO, I see the Edmonton Oilers taking him before they would sign Ben Hutton. They would also love to have a defenseman starting to gain traction in his career which I don"t see coming from Ben Hutton. A PTO would help get him under the cap also. It"ll be interesting to see if Holland does in fact add one of these UFA defensemen.

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