Another day, another move. Today, the Oilers announced the signing of RFA D Brandon Davidson to a one-year contract extension. While no details were made available in terms of dollars, I would imagine that the total comes out to somewhere around his qualifying offer. Without doubt, it’ll be below a million dollars.
With Davidson signed, Edmonton only has one RFA remaining, F Tyler Pitlick. I can’t imagine Pitlick will be a tough negotiation, he’s been injury riddled and has yet to establish himself as a regular at the NHL level.
As for Davidson, he’ll have a chance to make the NHL roster this fall. In 12 games last season, Davidson played a solid shut-down game, and even scored his first NHL goal. He wasn’t a sexy player, but he was solid, a good third-pairing defender.
He’s limited offensively, but he’s got decent speed, is smart, and is terrific defensively. At the AHL level, he was Edmonton’s top option defensively, the guy the coaching staff leaned on in tough situations.
Davidson could be Edmonton’s seventh defender this season, but he’ll have to beat out options like Nikita Nikitin, Andrew Ference and Eric Gryba, likely a difficult task. Unless Edmonton buys-out Nikitin, Davidson is likely slated to start the season in Bakersfield.
That said, Davidson will have to clear waiver this fall to return to the AHL. While I wouldn’t worry about losing him (Edmonton has depth options), it is a concern and something to ponder.
More as it happens.
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