26 years old, 6’0″, 180 lbs., signed a free agent

The Edmonton Oilers have made a bet on a veteran d-man, the kind that’s paid off nine times this century for other NHL teams.

The Oilers are hoping this same bet pays off with incoming d-man Atro Leppanen, 26.

I’ll suggest the Oilers have made an excellent bet here, even as somewhat similar bets haven’t worked out for the Oilers in the past.

I’m talking about bringing over from Europe a veteran d-man, 25 years of age or more, who has excelled in European competition, then hoping he’ll do the same in the NHL.

It’s a bet the Oilers have made many times in recent seasons, bringing veteran European d-men such as Anton Belov, Yohann Auvitu, Joel Persson, and Theodore Lennstrom. Not one of them stucj in the NHL. The one Euro vet they did b

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