Oilers place Aberg on waivers, cut Jerabek

As per the team’s official twitter account, the Edmonton Oilers have placed RW Pontus Aberg on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Bakersfield, and cut Jakub Jerabek:

Aberg was a deadline-day acquisition in 2018 when the Oilers traded Mark Letestu as the season got away from them. He had a respectable 2-6-8 in 16 GP last season but was also scratched after some disciplinary issues which, even now, probably worked against him in terms of trying to make this year’s club. That Ty Rattie, Kailer Yamamoto and Jessie Puljujarvi have been better than him this preseason certainly couldn’t help. While Aberg has long shown flashes of the skill of a player of his pedigree (37OV pick in 2012), he’s never been able to translate it to a really successful season in the NHL - or even a moderately successful one, as 18 points in 68 career GP can attest to.

Jerabek is the more interesting cut. The Oilers are already down Andrej Sekera, and Adam Larsson was removed from last night’s game for precautionary reasons relating to his back. Yet, the Oilers are moving on from a player just a few months removed from winning the sport’s ultimate prize with the Washington Capitals. Jerabek didn’t cover himself in glory by any stretch this pre-season, and it’s certainly an indictment of his play that he couldn’t crack a roster likely to feature at least two of Kris Russell, Ethan Bear, and Evan Bouchard this fall, but one has to wonder if this is the correct decision. Look for Jerabek to be plying his trade over in Europe as a very real possibility this season.