Edmonton Oilers keep veteran defenseman Andy Sutton on board with one-year contract extension -NHL
Andy Sutton’s now one of those players that have become accustomed to switching teams after the end of each regular season but luckily now, the Edmonton Oilers have decided to keep the player on board for another year by signing the veteran to a one-year contract extension on Monday, February 13, 2012.
Financial terms and conditions of the contract are not clear at the moment but are reported to be somewhere between $1.5 million to $1.75 million being somewhat less than his previous two-year contract worth $4.25 million, which would have made him an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Constant moving had become a hassle for the player along with his family as they had to shift each and every season.
“I’ve done a lot of moving the last few years and I just got my family here (from California) and we weren’t looking forward to moving again. I didn’t want to leave and have to go through free agency again this summer,” said Sutton.
Sutton was also expected to be traded sometime before the February 27 deadline but is now confident about spending another season with a team that he had wanted to stay with ever since he joined them after finished off the 2010-2011 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season with Anaheim Ducks.
“I told (Oilers general manager) Steve Tambellini right after my second suspension (eight games for a head hit on former Carolina Hurricanes winger Alexei Ponikarovsky) two months ago that I wanted to stay here,” added Sutton.
The 36-year-old was picked up San Jose Sharks during the 1998-1999 season in which he played his first 31 major league games. Sutton went on to play with Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks and now finally in Edmonton.
So far this season, Andy Sutton has participated in 33 games while having put up nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) with a plus-minus rating of two and 56 minutes in penalty time.
For Edmonton, acquiring him in a trade with Anaheim for defenseman, Kurtis Foster, might not have been much of a difference but using his veteran presence on the ice for their young line-up is definitely beneficial.
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