Oilers sign D-man Persson as a work in progress
Team plans to let defenceman develop his skill-set playing in Swedish League
The Edmonton Oilers have a new right-handed, offensive defenceman, but with a twist.
As expected, they did sign Swedish defenceman Joel Persson for one season — the allowable time for 24-year-old players on entrylevel deals — but they’re leaving him with his Swedish Hockey League champion team in Vaxjo. He’s not coming over to try to make the Oilers in the fall, or to dip his toe in the North American waters on the farm in Bakersfield in the AHL, which sounds like, “We like you but the sampling was too small.”
They’ve only seen him play one season in the SHL and they want to see if last year’s first-pairing role with the best team in Sweden stays in place and Persson shows even more offence than 34 points in 51 games.
Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli says they’ll be able to recall Persson from Vaxjo during the season, so he’s not completely out of sight, out of mind. But he’s also not developing his pro game over here. The Oilers will retain his NHL rights after the season as a restricted free-agent and monitor his play in Vaxjo, which blew through the SHL playoffs for the league title. If he does well in Vaxjo this upcoming season, they ’ll likely sign him for a longer term and they’ll bring him over.
“Joel has progressed rapidly in the last year and has shown a very good offensive side to his game, which is compatible with some of our needs,” said Chiarelli in a news release. “The plan is for Joel to remain with his club team next year. We have the right of recall but want to see him develop his game thoroughly in what will be his second year in the Swedish Elite League.”
It’s not clear whether Persson will be at Oilers prospect camp here in late June after the draft winds up in Dallas or at training camp. Last September, another drafted Swedish defenceman William Lagesson, who had been at UMass Amherst, came to camp even though the Swedish League season had started, and he was being loaned to Frolunda because there was no room for him in Bakersfield.
Lagesson, 22, a shutdown defenceman will be with Condors this season, however.
ON THE BENCH: Sorry but all those Torey Krug for Oscar Klefbom trade rumours don’t make fiscal sense. Krug makes $1.1 million more per season and is an unrestricted free-agent in two years. Klefbom makes $4.1 million and isn’t unrestricted for five more years. Krug’s a better offensive weapon but Klefbom is two years younger ... The Bakersfield farm defence is in flux because Keegan Lowe and Dillon Simpson are UFAs on July 1 and could go elsewhere. Also young Ryan Mantha suffered a blood clot in his eye which has threatened his career. They do have two vets under contract in Eric Gryba and Ryan Stanton, plus kids Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear, who has only played 52 pro games (34 in Bakersfield, 18 in Edmonton), and Lagesson ... The Oilers’ third-round pick in 2016, 6-foot-6 defenceman Markus Niemelainen, will probably be going back into the draft pool in June. At draft time he looked like a steal after a very strong World Under-18 tournament, but he was in a poor situation with a troubled junior team in Saginaw and decided he’d go back to Finland last year. He hasn’t progressed ... The Oilers will again have Wichita Thunder as their ECHL affiliate for next season.