Just Who Is Boyd Gordon?

The man with the best last name in hockey, that’s who. Haha I’m just really happy that I can now buy an Oilers jersey with my last name on the back and not be committing a major jersey foul. #15 Jersey, you will be mine at the first game I attend this year.

Gordon was signed by the Oilers on the first day of free agency for 3 years at 3 million per, a wee bit pricey for the third line center, more than double his previous salary of 1.35 million. But no one seems to mind because, well let’s face it, Gordon’s 3 million cap hit is a hell of a lot better than Horcoff’s at 5.5 per. I want to get this straight, Horcoff at 3mil would be better than Gordon at 3mil (with the exception of the name on the jersey of course). Boyd Gordon is not going to put up a lot of points as the third line center, in fact, his career high was 29 points way back in 2006-07 when he was a member of the offensively gifted Washington Capitals.

The one thing he will bring to the team is an ability to consistently win face offs, something that the Oilers have had trouble with the past few seasons. Over his 7 NHL seasons he has a career faceoff percentage of 56.7%, he’s also led his team in shorthanded TOI 4 out of his 7 years, the other 3 years he was second in SH TOI. The man is a penalty killing machine; he’ll be an important player for the Oilers when it comes to keeping the puck out of his teams net.

Gordon, 29, knows exactly what his role is going to be here and relishes it. In an article by Derek van Diest of the Edmonton Sun Gordon says;

“For me the best fit was here and I’m happy to be an Oiler,” he said. “They were looking for a guy like me to fit in that three-spot and be a more checking kind of role. Hopefully I can be a big part here and help out the team.”

As it stands he’ll be the 3^rd line center and he’s slated to play with Ales Hemsky on the right side and either Ryan Jones, Ryan Smyth, Linus Omark or possibly Ryan Hamilton on the left. That’s a pretty mixed bag of line mates, and Coach Eakins has his hands full deciding the identity of the 3^rd line.

The beauty of Gordon coming here is he picked Edmonton, there were other teams that were interested and he chose the Oilers. Now he does have the ability to move up the line up as necessary due to injury, which he also talks about in the Sun piece. He can play with offensively talented players and put up points, his 29 point season came while playing along with Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Dainus Zubrus. 20 – 30 points would be a good total and playing with a healthy Hemsky he should get to that total just by osmosis.

Here’s hoping to a healthy, successful season for the man with the best surname in the game, Thanks for reading