The Edmonton Oilers have released Jake Virtanen from his PTO on Thursday. A somewhat controversial addition to the training camp roster, Virtanen was given a number of opportunities to try and secure a spot on this year’s team, but simply didn’t gain enough traction. He arguably played his best hockey in the most recent preseason game against Vancouver, but he still didn’t make an impact. Fellow PTO veteran Jason Demers remains with the team.
Some fans are suggesting this is the best thing for the Oilers and that moving on from the player was the next-most ideal outcome, even if never having signed him at all would have been better. As one Twitter user wrote: “The decision to give Virtanen a PTO was just an abject failure from the PR and professional scouting departments. They knew it would draw ire. They *should’ve* known it would always end like this. Where was the upside here?”
Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames also made a couple of pretty big cuts releasing Sonny Milano and Cody Eakin from their PTOs.
There is potentially more shock with the Milano release than the Virtanen one, due mostly to the production of the respective players this past season. Virtanen was simply average in the KHL last year while Milano had somewhat of a breakout campaign in Anaheim. He wasn’t qualified and struggled to get a contract, but the assumption was he would land somewhere. Now, that’s no as certain, even though it is likely a team gives him a look on a two-way deal. Milano scored 34 points in 66 games last year. (42 pt pace) He also had some strong underlying numbers, even if the knock on him might be that he doesn’t play sound defensively.
Among the other moves made in the NHL today, there were quite a few NHL player placed on waivers today: Keith Kinkaid (BOS), Joona Koppanen (BOS), Vinni Lettieri (BOS), Daniel Renouf (BOS), Jayson Megna (COL), Slater Koekkoek (EDM), Calvin Pickard (EDM), Lias Andersson (LA), Jonny Brodzinski (NYR).
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