By Jordan Long
Last week the Edmonton Oilers’ season ended in a game 7 loss against the Anaheim Ducks. They were missing a key piece of their defense in Andrej Sekera. He was not in the lineup in game 6 or 7 of the series. Sekera will have surgery today to repair a torn ACL and will miss 6 to 9 months meaning he may not play in the 2017-2018 season. How big of a loss could this be for the Oilers?
Sekera is one of Edmonton’s top defenders, logging in an average ice time of 21 minutes and 29 seconds during the regular season. He can score goals from the blue line and find his teammates for them to light the lamp. Sekera had 8 goals and added 27 assists for a total of 35 points this year. In 11 playoff games he averaged 21 minutes and 10 seconds while scoring 1 goal and adding 2 assists.
He is valuable on the power play. He is the one who sets it up from the blue line. From there he uses his slap shot to try to get the puck past the goaltender. If not, Sekera feeds it to a wide-open teammate and those can end in goals.
Sekera limits opponents scoring opportunities. His quickness on the ice allows him to check them off the puck. If he fails, Sekera poke checks the puck away. When skaters try to shoot the puck on net, he can block it.
This is an enormous loss for the Oilers. They are going to look at free agents who could play the minutes that Sekera does to improve the defense. It may not be the same because of what Sekera brings to the team. The other option for them is to figure out who can replace him on the roster. Lucky for the Oilers they have plenty of time to do that.
What do you think of Edmonton Oilers losing Andrej Sekera? Who replaces him on defense?
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