Friday, July 07, 2017

Fringe Signings (Jul 7)

The Dallas Stars re-signed forward Brett Ritchie to a 2-year, $3.5 million deal on Thursday.

Ritchie, 24, has slowly come through the Stars system after being a 2nd round pick in the 2011 draft and now has found some full-time work with the Stars and now has the contract to prove it.  Last season, Ritchie played in 78 games, scoring 16 goals and 24 points, ranking him 234th among all forwards.

With the way that Dallas has been building up in this off-season, they are going to have some prime wing spots to fill out some scoring combinations and Ritchie could be one of those guys that would benefit most from it.

The Edmonton Oilers added a little bit more of a veteran presence on Friday morning, signing unrestricted free agent forward Jussi Jokinen to a 1-year deal.

Jokinen wasn't in the plans for the Florida Panthers after last season, where he picked up 11 goals and 28 points in 69 games, only a point out of the conversation of being pool worthy, hence the fringe spot.  Jokinen had the last season of his contract bought out by the Panthers, leaving him to unrestricted free agency, but the 34-year old wasn't out of work for too long, before the Oilers came calling.

Jokinen had some lower-body issues through the season in 2017 and if he's back to being 100%, the Oilers should get a pretty good winger to help the inexperienced players find their way, namely fellow Finn Jesse Puljujarvi.

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