Great Deal for Brule

Big day for the Edmonton Oilers. The franchise has inked a key part of this coming season and a real problem come arbitration if things went off the board a bit, by signing forward Gilbert Brule to a 2 yr deal worth $1.85 million per.

Edmonton wanted to get to a situation where trading Brule wasn't going to be a "have-to" scenario. With the recent rulings in arbitration, it became critical to get pen to paper on Brule if the Oilers wanted to avoid going higher than $2 million per season.

$1.85 for a player who should be getting better by the season is a very respectable allocation for Steve Tambellini and this should be considered another strong move in a summer of good moves by the Oilers GM.

Brule will play a number of roles on the club, likely starting in the 3rd line center position. He's gritty, he's not a faceoff liability, he's strong in 5-on-5 situations and he should be a character guy for this team if his recent off-ice news is any indication as to the type of person he'll be for this franchise.

I'm a real fan of this move.

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This should be the start of a few key RFA signings, with Sam Gagner now high on the priority list. Brule had to get done first. Deslauriers if the Oilers choose to keep him may be next and Gagner won't be far behind.

If what Tambellini has managed to keep his players around for is an indication, expect $2.25-$3 million per for 2-3 years for Sam Gagner. If the Oilers see him as a player who can outplay that value, he may get a longer deal.

Inking Sam Gagner will give the Oilers 14 signed forwards. Brule and Gagner the last two integral pieces. The fact that Brule got done today, won't be major news around the NHL as a whole, but it's a big peice of the Oilers pie.