Oilers lock up Klefbom for 7 years, 4.1 mill per year cap hit.

[jammer2]

  Oilers locked up promising d-man Oscar Klefbom to a 7 year contract which works out to a cap hit of 4.1 mill year. Seems a bit of a lofty contract for a basically unproven youngster. They must have really liked what they seen from Oscar in this rookie year to place this  much faith in him. Part of this is based on future projections I"d imagine.

 

 http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/oscar-klefbom-signs-seven-year-29-million-pact-with-oilers/

[JR Ewing]

Get good players.

Keep good players.

 

For almost 30 years, the Oilers have been able to do the first part, but not the second one. Signing young players to a series of one or two year "show me" contracts and bridge deals have continually put the Oilers in a position where they're trading away players in their prime years for cents on the dollar or (usually) draft picks. Right now, at this stage of his career, Klefbom is a good 2nd pairing defenseman. If he never improves, this is a value deal that sees him as an Oiler until his prime years are finished, and the value is especially increased when you consider that the club is buying three UFA years. Any additional growth as a player is gravy.

 

Scary thought: do you the last young defenseman the Oilers signed to a contract which kept him on the team through his prime years, let alone one with the right pedigree, size, skill and (so far at every step) results? Kevin Lowe...

 

Get good players.

Keep good players.

[teenagemutantninjahertl]

An interesting signing, because the talk around the Oilers is they "haven't had good defenseman." I personally think that Klef is a good player, but up until this offseason, no one would have said he was worth that kind of investment.

 

I think he will turn out to be a pretty good player, and it was important to lock him up. The money might come as a bit of a shock, but remember John Klingberg just signed a very similar contract in Dallas after less than one full season in the NHL. Klef has played more than that in the NHL.

[Podein25]

Seems a bit of a lofty contract for a basically unproven youngster.

 

 

That was my first thought as well, but I know not how well he has progressed in the last year or so. He struggled mightily with the defensive side of the puck for awhile there.

[JR Ewing]

From Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts from earlier today:

 

14. In a league where people love to rip things anonymously, there wasn’t much hatred for the seven-year, $29 million-ish contract Edmonton gave to 77-game veteran Oscar Klefbom. Rocky Thompson, who spent the last three seasons coaching the defender at AHL Oklahoma City and in Edmonton, liked the move. “Ninety-five per cent of the time, we faced a 2-1-2 or an aggressive 1-2-2 forecheck. Oscar trusted his legs to get back in enough time to make a good breakout pass to the winger, or to make a move allowing him to get the puck to the centre through the middle. His value doesn’t measure in points, but he does things that allow you to get points.” Thompson said Klefbom also doesn’t get enough credit for his ability to recognize when an attacking player stops with the puck at the Edmonton blueline or in the neutral zone to wait for support on a line change. “He knows how to cut off that player and stop the play.”

 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/30-thoughts-the-challenge-nhlers-face-in-retirement/

[JR Ewing]

Update at the 25% mark of the year. Klefbom started the season with a wonky ankle, and took about 5 or 6 games to feel better. So far:

 

-Points per 60 is 7th in the NHL among defensemen, playing with Mark Fayne as a partner and a Zone Start of 46.8%. The scoring isn't coming because of a push from McLellan.

-Scoring Chances Against per 60 is 21.8, surrounded with guys like Victor Hedman, Duncan Keith and his buddy, Jonas Brodin.

-There's a long list of similar stats where he sits in the same territory. The list of defensemen who sit there in both offensive and defensive metrics is not very many at all.

 

A nice start so far.

[jammer2]

@JR Ewing  Oscar continues to impress, I snagged him as a free agent in fantasy hockey about 3 weeks ago, he has rewarded me handsomely. What a rocket his kid has from the point, very, very nice puck dispersal on the 1st power play unit. I dropped Exblad to get him, I had faith in ability to turn smarts into points.

 

 When Sekera comes back, do you think Oscar stays with the top pp unit....I mean, how could you demote him after what he has done in the past month......they should be rewarding his play, so Sekera should go straight to the 2nd pp unit and stay there.

 

 All of a sudden, you can see the makings of a great defense in Edmonton. Oscar, Darnell Nurse (who is really coming into his own of late), Griffin Rienhart (progressing slowly but shows flashes of what made him such a high draft pick).....Frantisk Musil's son David is considered a can't miss defensive shut down defender AND Ethan Bear has played internationally for Canada in the Ivan Helinka tourny, and looks very promising for the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL....man, what a collection of talent they have amassed.

 

 Question JR....with all the depth, talent and youth on the blueline....does this make Justin Schultz tradeable?  I don't think his defense will ever be up to par, and Oscar has surpassed him in terms of actual offense and offensive upside. I would imagine a few teams that are suffering in terms of pp qb might find him attractive....sombody will always think they can fix a defensive shortcoming....but honestly, I don't see that happening in this case....the smart move would be to move him, before other GM's figure out his defense will always be a liability.