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Iiro Pakarinen won’t be in Edmonton next year. He won’t even be in the NHL.
Pakarinen has signed a deal to play with the KHL’s Mettalurg Magnitogorsk in 2018-19. He finishes with 23 points in 134 career NHL games, all with the Oilers. Over that time, he tallied 45 points (27-18-45) in 66 games with Oklahoma City / Bakersfield in the AHL.
A fourth line forward, the loss of Iiro Pakarinen will not provide the Oilers with very much cap relief going into the offseason. They’ll need as much as they can get if they’re going to sign an expensive backup goaltender in Mikko Koskinen like I’ve been reading all day.