Oilers Sign Tobias Rieder

Peter Chiarelli is on fire today.

I have a very loose definition of ‘on fire’. Peter Chiarelli has made a couple of moves that aren’t bad at all. He’s signed Kyle Brodziak to a two year deal with an AAV of 1.15MM. Now, he got Tobias Rieder for a one year deal as well.

I had the Oilers out of the Rieder sweepstakes by late Friday. Once we read that four Canadian teams were in on Rieder, I assumed Vacouver was going to splash around and throw 4.25 at him for four years.

The Oilers got one season of Rieder for 2 million. That’s a good deal. Rieder’s last season saw him shuffle between Arizona and Los Angeles. He put up just 25 points in 2017-18, but his last two seasons he picked up 34 and 37 points in Arizona.

Normally a bottom six option, Rieder’s got what I can only assume a fair shot at playing in the top six along with Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid. It definitely puts him in the conversation alongside Ty Rattie, Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi.

This is a good deal for the Oilers.