Oilers Sign Markus Granlund To A One Year Deal

Showing a goal is a good way to pump up the good feels when your team signs a bottom six player. It just so happens that this is exactly what the Oilers did with Markus Granlund.

Ken Holland has struck a deal with Markus Granlund. It’s a one year deal valued at 1.3MM. Granlund has spent the last four seasons in Vancouver. Prior to that, he spent three in Calgary. He joins the Oilers on a one year deal that will likely see him all over the bottom six.

Listed as a centre, Granlund has played a fair bit of wing in his career. He’s likely going to see some time on the PK, and that’s probably where the good times end. Granlund scored 22 points in 77 games with the Canucks last year (12-10-22), he put up 12 in 53 games in 2017-18. Granlund’s career high was when he put together a 19 goal, 32 point season in 2016-17 in his second year with Vancouver.

Last season, Granlund spent most of his time with Jake Virtanen (15-10-25 in 2018-19) and Tim Schaller (3-7-10). Expect significant time on the bottom six and PK.

DOLLARS AND SENSE

Ken Holland’s magical ride through the world of the salary cap continues. After buying out Sekera, signing a $2MM Mike Smith and now a 1.3MM Markus Granlund, the Oilers are playing with a little less than 8MM of cap space. Markus Granlund strikes me as the type of player that a competitive team trades a fourth round pick for at the trade deadline, so it’s a little surprising that Granlund was a target so early in free agency. The Oilers are running out of options (and cap space) to land an impact free agent. The day is young, and we’ll hopefully see more.