The Edmonton Oilers have loaned several prospects overseas, but they won’t stop there. Now Patrick Russell has also been sent to Europe, loaned to Rungsted Seier Capital in Denmark’s professional league. Russell, one of the few Danish players in the NHL, hasn’t played for a club team in his home country since 2009.
The 27-year-old forward was re-signed to a new one-year $700K contract just last month, but will spend at least the first few months of it playing for a different club. Russell will be expected to return to North America in time for NHL training camps, though it is not clear exactly when those will be held at this point.
Though he has failed to score a single goal in 51 NHL matches, Russell still represents a depth option for the Oilers to plug in at the bottom of their lineup next season. His contract carries just a $700K cap hit, but he has shown an ability to score goals at both the NCAA and minor league levels. If that ability surfaces at the NHL level, he’d be quite the bargain in 2020-21.