Oilers not taking Pitkanen or Stoll to arbitration

From Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal:

In the end, the Edmonton Oilers elected to submit qualifying offers to centre Jarret Stoll and defenceman Joni Pitkanen, their two key restricted free agents.

They could have taken one or both to arbitration, which would have prevented opposing clubs from submitting offer sheets when the free-agent market opens on Tuesday.

Read the rest of the article here.

The Oilers clearly aren’t too concerned about either of these players getting offer sheets. I don’t expect either one to sign on with another team. If the Oilers are having trouble signing Stoll and Pitkanen, I could see one or both being moved in a trade. However, if they decide they want both back, it is probably for the better that they decided not to take either player to arbitration. Arbitration is generally a bad thing for team/player relations.