The Oilers are poised to add some depth up front. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Edmonton is set to sign forward Markus Granlund to a one-year contract. Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest reports (via Twitter) that the deal is worth $1.3MM.
Granlund was slated to become a restricted free agent this summer but Vancouver declined to tender him a $1.475MM qualifying offer. The 26-year-old rebounded a bit offensively in 2018-19, collecting 12 goals and 10 assists in 78 games with the Canucks while averaging a little over 15 minutes per game of ice time. However, he still came up short of his production from 2016-17 when he posted 32 points in 69 contests.
Granlund has spent time at all three forward positions and that type of versatility will certainly help Edmonton who has a variety of holes up front to fill and not a large amount of cap space to work with, even with yesterday’s buyout of Andrej Sekera. It’s likely that Granlund will shuffle around the Oilers lineup in a variety of roles and a good showing with them could certainly bolster his market for next summer when he will once again be eligible for unrestricted free agency.