The Edmonton Oilers announced Thursday that they have signed veteran Montreal defenseman Jason Demers to a pro tryout contract.
The 34-year-old Demers played five KHL games last season with Ak-Bars Kazan.
He also participated in the Winter Olympics with the Canadian team in Beijing.
The Dorval-born right-hander has 699 NHL games with the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes.
Chiasson and Gibson will try their luck in Arizona
In addition, the Coyotes have offered tryout contracts to forward Alex Chiasson and goaltender Christopher Gibson.
Chiasson spent last season with the Vancouver Canucks, scoring 13 goals and 22 points in 67 games. He played the previous three seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, including a career-high 22 goals and 38 points in 73 games during the 2018-19 season.
The 31-year-old, who was selected by the Dallas Stars in the second round of the 2009 draft, has played 631 career games with the Stars, Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals, Oilers and the Canucks. He scored 114 goals and had 224 points in those games.
Gibson, 29, spent last season in the American Hockey League posting a 7-5-2 record with the Charlotte Checkers, a .907 save percentage and a goals-against average. of 2.80.
A second-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2011, Gibson appeared in 16 NHL games with the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning, posting a 4-5-3 record. His last stint in the NHL was in 2020-21, when he appeared in two Lightning games, going 1-1 with an .875 save percentage and 2.66 offense average.
The Coyotes currently have more than $20 million in cap slack for this season, according to CapFriendly, with 22 players on their roster.
Arizona still has one restricted free agent to sign in Barrett Hayton, the fifth pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. The 22-year-old forward had 10 goals and 24 points in 60 games last season.
At goaltending, Gibson will fight for a position with Karel Vejmelka and Jon Gillies. The Coyotes used six goaltenders in the 2021-22 season, but only two of them, Vejmelka and Ivan Prosvetov, are still under contract this year.
The Coyotes finished second to last overall last season, missing the playoffs for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
