The Edmonton Oilers have agreed to terms with the recently bought out Kyle Turris on a two-year deal worth $3.3 million. The contract carries a salary-cap hit of $1.65 million.
$1.65M AAV https://t.co/C9VZnjRI2O
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 9, 2020
Edmonton Oilers Sign Kyle Turris
In Turris, the Oilers get a veteran, bottom-six centre with some scoring touch. This season, he scored nine goals and 22 assists for 31 points, adding 22 minutes in penalties. Those totals are compared to last season, where he scored 7 goals and 23 points in just 55 games.
Over his 12-year NHL career, Turris has played for the Arizona Coyotes, Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators. In that time, he has 165 goals and 251 assists for 416 career points in 726 career games. He was originally drafted third overall of the 2007 NHL draft by the then-Phoenix Coyotes.
What This Means for the Future
Turris has never quite lived up to his draft position, though Ottawa used him extensively as their top centre for his six-plus year tenure. After his move to Nashville coach Peter Laviolette used him for support behind Ryan Johansen. He scored 42 points in 65 games there, but couldn’t maintain his pace and has dropped to the fourth line. New coach John Hynes has left him in a bit of a positional twilight, given starts in the offensive zone and penalty killing responsibilities.
It’s no surprise Nashville has moved on from Turris and his $6 million cap hit through 2023-24. That he has been moved is a minor miracle. If they can get Turris back to anywhere near his 2017-18 numbers in a supporting role, it will be a nice bonus.
How the Predators plan to use that cap room remains to be seen, and depends on how they see themselves. Will they continue to push for a Stanley Cup appearance, or start a whole new rebuild cycle?
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