*Photo from Oilers Nation*
It's time for the second professional contract up in Alberta. The Edmonton Oilers and C Ryan McLeod have agreed to a one year, $798,000 deal, according to an announcement on Thursday by the Oilers.
Entering the offseason, McLeod was coming off his entry level deal, and was an RFA. His entry level deal had an AAV of $834,167. McLeod gets a slight dip in his salary, making $798,000 this season. The 23 year old center will be an RFA at the end of the season.
McLeod said of his new contract that "It took a while and there are a lot of other guys who needed to get signed and a lot of moving pieces with the cap not going up because of COVID, so it's tough to squeeze everyone in. But I'm happy with being back and it's a number that works for both myself and the team, so it's good to be back. We assumed it was going to be a one-year deal just with where the cap was at, so I didn't want to miss much time, especially because I'm betting on myself."
The signing of McLeod helps Edmonton with their salary cap situation. Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith will be placed on LTIR prior to the season beginning, giving Edmonton a certain amount of relief over the salary cap. McLeod's deal helps Edmonton get within $165 of the available cap relief, helping them maximize the overage they get due to Klefbom and Smith going on LTIR.
Last season was McLeod's second in the league. It was his first full season and he had a year of breakouts, tallying 9 goals and 12 assists. McLeod posted a -2 plus/minus rating over an average 12:46 of ice time per game in 71 games. He had 3 goals and one assist in 16 playoff games.
Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said that "I think Ryan and where he's at in his life stage as a player, it's an exciting time in his career. I thought he established himself as a full-time NHL hockey player last year, even though at the start he was in Bakersfield for a little bit. He had a great playoff run, put in a good summer, he's a physical phenom as well and skates great."
McLeod has two NHL seasons under his belt with the Oilers. Over that time, he has 9 goals and 13 assists, averaging 12:46 of ice time while recording a -4 plus/minus rating in 81 career regular season games. He has an additional 3 goals and one assist in 20 career playoff games.
So far this offseason, the Oilers lost Mikko Koskinen as he went overseas, and Smith to injury. They signed Jack Campbell in free agency and brought back Evander Kane, and agreed to deals with RFA's McLeod, Kailer Yamamoto, and Jesse Puljujarvi.
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