Benoit Pouliot (left) has left the Rangers agreeing to a 5-year $20 million contract with Edmonton.
Getty Images/Steve Nesius

Benoit Pouliot is officially a former Ranger. He signed with the Oilers for five years. I just checked capgeek.com and astonishingly, he got $20 million. Pouliot will be making $4 million per season.

That’s insane. You want to talk about a dysfunctional franchise. Look no further than Edmonton. No surprise it’s the same team that traded for Nikita Nikitin and immediately gave him $9 million over two years. At least they dumped Sam Gagner and added Teddy Purcell. He’ll help them.

Pouliot was a good player here. It took a benching from Alain Vigneault to get him going. Once that happened, he was a fixture on the third line playing with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello. A cohesive trio that were the Rangers’ most consistent line. Pouliot scored 15 goals and set new career bests with 21 assists, 36 points and seven power play goals.

At the very least, he’ll finally play for a team that committed to him. A former No.1 pick, Pouliot is well traveled playing for five teams (Wild, Canadiens, Bruins, Lightning, Rangers) since entering the league. His sixth team could last a while if he performs. Some friendly advice. Avoid taking offensive zone penalties.

In related news, Edmonton also added ex-Devil Mark Fayne agreeing on a four-year deal worth $14 million. He’ll earn an average of $3.625 million per season. A defensive defenseman, Fayne lasted four years in New Jersey. He didn’t always play under Pete DeBoer but won back a spot getting into 72 games and tallying four goals and seven assists with a shorthanded goal. He won’t put up many points but that’s not his job.

The Oilers needed a defenseman and certainly were willing to go the extra year. It is interesting to see that they committed four years to Fayne and five to Pouliot. We’ll see if it pans out.