Oilers sign OKC Barons top scorer Arcobello to one-year, two- way contract extension
Barons point-leader Arcobello gets one-year extension
With a freshly inked, one-year extension in hand, Mark Arcobello will have one less matter to take care of this offseason.
Set to become a restricted free agent, the Oklahoma City Barons top point producer had generated some interest from Europe, but was intent on staying with the Edmonton Oilers.
“There was interest but I wanted to hear from Edmonton before I thought about doing anything,” Arcobello said Friday after the two-way deal was finalized. “I wanted to stay over here, and that’s what’s going to happen now.
“Now I’m set for the summer.”
Arcobello led the Barons in the regular season with 68 points (22 goals, 46 assists) and in the playoffs with 20 points (12 goals, eight assists).
He also made his NHL debut in February, pinch-hitting for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for a game against the Dallas Stars. He played more than 18 minutes on a line with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle.
“That was huge for me,” he said of the experience. “It’s always a goal to get to the NHL and even though it was just one game, it gave me that taste of it and I’m hungry for a little bit more. It’s something to strive for, for sure.”
Generously listed at five-footnine, the 24-year-old centre went from Yale University to the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder then played his way onto the Barons roster. He’s been a constant contributor at the American Hockey League level since settling in with Oklahoma City.
Undersized? Yes. Overachiever? Definitely.
Undrafted out of Yale, Arcobello, who hails out of Milford, Conn., had signed an AHL contract in October 2010. He turned that into an entry-level offer from the Oilers on April 1, 2011, and now he’s the Barons’ career leader in goals (50), assists (83) and points (133) and second in games played (173).
Arcobello has also played in every one of the Barons’ games, a tally that now stands at 37 after another appearance in the Western Conference final last month.
“I haven’t exactly taken the easiest road, but I think it’s paid off for me,” he continued. “I think I’m better off for it, stronger for it, because it hasn’t been that easy. It just makes everything that more worthwhile in the end.
“As long as I continue to play the way I have been, and if I improve on some other things, I think there’s going to be a really good opportunity for me to return to Edmonton.”
In other AHL news, the Vancouver Canucks have relocated their farm team from Peoria, Ill. to Utica, N.Y. The Utica Comets will play at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.