Trent Frederic’s eight-year deal with Oilers will pay him ‘north of $3.5-million but south of $4-million in AAV’

It was first reported on Wednesday morning by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that the two sides were closing in on an eight-year agreement, with the figure then still unknown.

“Frederic is staying,” Friedman said, speaking on The Fan Hockey Show. “I think there’s an eight-year deal close to getting done there…. We’ll see what they do around him. And Frederic, by the way — I’m curious to find out what’s going on with him because I don’t think he was close to 100 percent healthy, either.”

Later in the day, NHL writer Andy Strickland and theScore’s John Matisz both reported the figure was around or below $4 million a year, with Matisz mentioning the contract includes a modified no-movement clause.

Frederic was dealt to the Oilers at this year’s trade deadline from the Boston Bruins as part of a three-team exchange that saw the Oilers give up a 2025 second-round pick, a 2026 fourth-round pick, and two prospects. The 6’3″, 221lb., 27-year-old was injured when he was acquired, and only ended up playing in one regular season contest for the Oilers, re-aggravating an ankle issue after seven minutes of playing time on April 5th. He was then rested until the playoffs, where he appeared in all 22 of the teams playoff games, registering one goal and three assists.

As Friedman noted, there was clearly some lingering ailments for Frederic leading into the playoffs, which the team will likely shed more light on in the coming weeks. That being said, they obviously have faith in his health moving forward with this long of a contract for a player in his late 20s.

Before his injury, the 2016 first-round pick had eight goals and 15 points in 57 games played with the Bruins this season, averaging a career high 13:50 minutes a night.