'Very nice dea': Edmonton Oilers locked up young power forward on two-year deal

This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news that they have signed up young power forward Colton Dach on a two-year deal: “Dacher 👊 The Oilers have signed forward Colton Dach to a two-year contract extension with an AAV of $1.2 million.” Dach came in seemingly as an add-om to the deal that saw the Oilers [...]

This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news that they have signed up young power forward Colton Dach on a two-year deal: “Dacher 👊 The Oilers have signed forward Colton Dach to a two-year contract extension with an AAV of $1.2 million.” Dach came in seemingly as an add-om to the deal that saw the Oilers acquire centre Jason Dickinson from Chicago for a first-round draft pick and the salary dump of Andrew Mangiapane’s contract. At the same time, Chicago retained 50 per cent of Dickinson’s $4.25 million contract for this year.

the emergence of Dach was one of the most promising developments of Edmonton’s season. In an admittedly small sample size of eight short games with the Oilers in the regular season, the 6-foot, 4-inch, 220 pound Dach played his way up to the third line. He and fellow power forward Trent Frederic caused havoc on the forecheck with their aggression and helped the Oilers score a few goals with their skill.

That said, the two faded in the playoffs, in part due to limited ice time and opportunity. Dach’s regular season play with the Oilers was so eye-opening and promising it left me wondering why Chicago gave him up, but on his Oilers Now show in mid-April, host Bob Stauffer dropped a hint, that Chicago is most interested in more recent draft picks and not so interested in players drafted in the pre-2022 Stan Bowman era. Bowman’s Hawks took Dach 62nd overall in the 2022 draft.

Dach’s signing was met with general approval by pundits, observers and fans. Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer @Bob_Stauffer IMO fair deal for both sides. Colton Dach has an opportunity to grow with the EdmontonOilers Big, not timid, has some skill.

Played mostly wing at the NHL level, but has played a lot of center at different levels. Will be an interesting player to watch this season. Edmonton stats analyst Mathew Panchyshyn @mathewjdp This has been a remarkable offseason by Bowman.

I had hoped for 9/10 to be done (with the expectation that Jarry wasn’t being moved). Edm will have cap space in the season to acquire a better top 6 talent than what that money could acquire today. Goaltending seemingly is solved.

Nurse is gone. No assets removed. Dickinson/Murphy/Dach were kept and at bargains.

The Dcore is near perfect. Bravo Bowman. Bravo.

Rating: A+ Oilers fan Cordell Ferguson @EdmCaper Oilers have everyone signed and they have 4.7 million to spend. Locked on Oilers podcaster Nick Zararis @NickZararis A Dach, Samanski, Frederic 4th line is intriguing Oilers fan Den Polland @oilersgm2 Very nice deal, kind of assumed this would be the kind of deal he got.

I wonder why it took so long? Confirming a path for ice time? Look for the Oilers to lose 1 – 2 contracts before the season starts.

More to come...