'Very nice deal': Edmonton Oilers lock up power forward on two-year deal - Canada News Beep

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-on 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.

Colton Dach

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 centre 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). Edmonton 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 D-core is near perfect. Bravo Bowman. Bravo.
Rating: A+
The Offseason Checklist: Edm edition
✅ Fire Knoblauch
📵 Hire Excellent Coach
✅ Trade Nurse
✅ re-sign Murphy
✅ re-sign Dickinson
✅ re-sign RFA’s
✅✅ Acquire goalie
□ Acquire top 6 forward
✅ Draft well
□ Trade Jarry

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.

Oilers fan Brad Lauder @OILfanincowtown
There it is!!! Solid deal for a player type they need more of.

Daily Hive hociey writer Preston Hodgkinson @NHLHodgkinson
Good work by Oilers to get a second year on that Dach extension. Good bottom-six soldier that will add some physicality down the lineup. Low $$$ makes it relatively risk-free as well. Bowman continues to have a decent start to the summer…

Hockey Youtuber Austin Hockey @AustinHockeyYT
Good for Dach, very intriguing player. Has a really good mix of size and skill. His skill flies under the radar a bit IMO. I think this player will thrive under Babcock…To make this an almost A+ offseason I’d like to see Savoie’s extension before the season begins. Lock the kid up early! Oilers bet on the future, he’s going to be worth it 🍻

Cult of Hockey contributor Ira Cooper OriginalPouzar @coopsie39
Stauff continuing to allude to Dach at centre – I’m getting the feeling that, without injuries, Samanski could be starting the season in Bako….

Oilers fan Waqas Khan @waqaskhan18
To Stan Bowman,
Enjoy the rest of your summer. Much earned.
– Courtesy all Oilers fans

Oilers podcaster Karman Gill @Kgill39
Great deal on a very underrated player who will only get better

Oilers fan Roshan Nelson @roshannelson13
3 hits a game with Edm. Injured. No instigator gamesmanship or memorable. $1.2m for yet another fourth line left shot to join Janmark Jones Frederic Clattenburg Samanski. At least Clattenburg has jam. If Dach was from Finland and not a Hawk nobody would care & he’d be in AHL lol

Oilers fan Steve Walton 🇨🇦🇩🇪🏒⚽️ @StevenGWalton
With the move. The Oilers now have no notable RFAs or UFAs to sign and have $4.7m in cap space (which would equal $21m at the deadline).

Oilers fan Paul Almeida @AzorcanGlobal
Best case scenario is that Dach develops into another Podkolzin for the Oilers. If I was him I would emulate Podzilla as much as possible.

Hockey stats analyst Benchrates @benchrates
The money matches his contribution. Colton Dach had 2 goals and 2 assists in 8 games for Oilers despite the reduced TOI and was worth $1.2M. Now he needs to keep it up with a limited role and earn more minutes