August 10, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Brandon Sutter hasn’t played an NHL game since 2021. Sutter contracted COVID, along with the majority of his Canucks teammates, in March 2021. He was able to finish that season out, but issues presented themselves while training for the 2021-22 season. Symptoms of long COVID have forced Sutter out of the NHL. According to an article by Eric Francis in March 2023, Sutter has hopes of earning a professional tryout offer with a team this summer. That team appears to be the Edmonton Oilers, according to Bob Stauffer.

Sutter has 289 points in 770 NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Canucks. Most recently, he put up twelve points in 43 games with the Canucks in 2020-21. The 34-year old has a stiff challenge in front of him. Coming back from a health situation like that can’t be easy. He wouldn’t be earning a PTO if there wasn’t a chance that he can still bring it though.

The Oilers are looking for a fourth line centre, preferably a big one that’s right-handed, that can win draws, and that can kill penalties. Sutter is 6’3” and 190 lbs according to Hockey DB. He’s got the size. He’s right-handed, so that’s a check. Sutter has had two seasons where his faceoff percentage was below 50% since 2014-15, and he was at 55.3% in 2020-21. That’s another check. Sutter is also known as a solid penalty killer, which is another big ol’ check! Sutter might be the fourth line centre that we keep hearing that the Oilers are interested in adding.

Sutter’s cap hit was $4.375 million in 2020-21, which was grossly high for Sutter’s services. He had signed a one-year deal worth $1.125 million for the 2021-22 season, which he missed entirely due to his health concerns. That would’ve been more within reason. Any potential contract offered to Sutter this fall would certainly be for the league minimum $775,000 cap hit, which would definitely be palatable for the Oilers should Sutter show well in camp.

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I’m cautiously optimistic about this development. It can’t hurt to bring a veteran like Sutter into camp to compete with the likes of Raphael Lavoie and Lane Pederson for a roster spot. It will cost the team nothing in terms of commitment or cap hit to bring him to camp to see if he can still compete at the NHL level. If it pans out, then the Oilers will have added a serviceable veteran fourth line centre that fills a couple of team needs on the cheap.