The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames organizations are headed down two very different paths.
The former is bringing most of their team back to the fold next season to simply run it back at a chance to win the Stanley Cup. The latter is just hoping to get through next season as quickly as possible.
Their provincial rivalry continues to be a hot-button topic, despite the Oilers holding all of the bragging rights at this point. They can also add “free agent stealers” to the list of things they can hold over the Flames after a few players spurred Calgary into free agency in favor of Edmonton.
Psych!
Throughout an extremely busy news day, there were two signings made by the Oilers that were wins over the Flames: Viktor Arvidsson and Josh Brown.
Arvidsson, who inked a two-year, $4M AAV contract with the team, was close to signing with the Flames before heading north to Edmonton:
Reports noted that the deal was of similar length, and perhaps a bit more AAV, but the opportunity in Edmonton was far greater.
Log that as one victory for the Oilers.
Brown’s signing, which is still somewhat being debated by Oilers fans, is another in which the player opted for Edmonton over Calgary.
Frank Seravalli reported on his livestream that the Flames had an offer on the table for Brown before he decided on the Oilers. At a three-year deal, it’s interesting how much action there was on Brown for his services, but the Oilers took this round as well.
A few years after the Oilers were spurred by Jacob Markstrom in free agency, if you’re an Oilers fan, it feels good to be on the winning end.
And the oilers keep getting older
And Flames keep losing