OILERS SIGN AULIE

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers got bigger, faster and more experienced by signing three free agents who general manager Craig MacTavish says will significantly address a serious shortcoming in the team’s on-ice performance.

The Oilers jumped into the free agent market early by signing defencemen Keith Aulie (six-foot-six, 228 pounds) from Rouleau, SK, Mark Fayne (6-3, 210 pounds) and left-winger Benoit Pouliot (6-3, 197-pounds).

Two days earlier MacTavish traded lightweight forward Sam Gagner to Tampa Bay for 6-3, 203-pound right winger Ted Purcell.

On Tuesday they also re-signed 6-3, 240-pound left winger Luke Gazdic, who had 15 fighting majors last season, to a two-year contract.

“They all have size,” stressed MacTavish. “We added a lot of size in the last two days. We haven’t touched the core group of guys we ended the season with and we’ve added what we think is a much more well rounded complement to those players with size and speed and puck pursuit.

“All these moves are going to go a long ways to addressing a serious shortcoming in our on-ice performance and I think we can expect to be much better next year.”

MacTavish thinks Aulie is one of the players with the opportunity to enhance his value on a one-year contract.

“He has the opportunity because of his age and his skill set to have a significant impact on our team. When you look at the make-up of our defence now it looks like an NHL defence, which it didn’t always last year,” he said.

The one area the Oilers didn’t address is centre ice where they lack size and aggressiveness. Their No. 1 centre is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 6-1 but only 180 pounds.

“We didn’t address all of our needs today,” MacTavish agreed. “Ideally we would like to be able to add a centreman. We do have some depth there but they are young, developing players.

“We’re still hopeful we can add a centrepiece to what we’ve done already and will be trying to do something in that regard.”