One of the wilder stories in the past decade surrounding the Edmonton Oilers was hearing Bob Nicholson blame a failed 2018-19 season on Tobias Rieder.

I mean, come on.

In 67 games in Tobias Rieder’s lone season with the Oilers, he was as snakebitten as they come, notching 11 assists but failing to find the back of the net. It wasn’t for lack of trying, as according to Natural Stat Trick, he generated 8.32 individual expected goals with the chances he was getting.

What didn’t help his case was the fact that the Oilers got caved in when he was on the ice, getting outscored 19-10.

But this single season with the Oilers, one where he signed as a free agent for $2 million and then was not given a qualifying offer, was actually his second stint with the team. Edmonton drafted Rieder in the fourth round of the 2011 draft, but never signed with the team and was subsequently traded to the Phoenix Coyotes for Kale Kessey.

The irony of it all........

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