#Oilers agree to terms with left-winger @lukegazdic on a two-year contract. pic.twitter.com/D04D0dpxXM
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) July 1, 2014
If you're a fan of hockey analytics you likely enjoyed the start to the Oilers day. Which in turn means you likely didn't enjoy the team's most recent announcement, that winger Luke Gazdic has been re-signed to a two year deal. I've yet to see anything on a whether or not this is a one or two-way deal, but we do know that it's worth $750k in the first year and $850k in the second. For what it's worth, Gazdic made $635k playing for the Oilers last season, that deal was a two-way contract.
Gazdic is what he is, a tough guy. He's a good enough fighter, unfortunately for the Oilers when he's asked to do anything else (and even when he only plays just five minutes a night he is occasionally asked to do more than fight) things don't go well for the the guys in blue and orange. To be an actual NHL player Gazdic needs to work on his skating, his puck handling, his play without the puck, basically everything that doesn't equate to grit Gazdic needs to be better at. The good news for him is that he's got two years to try and make that happen.