The Edmonton Oilers return home tonight to battle the Arizona Coyotes as a kickoff to the final stretch off the pre-season. Edmonton is sporting a perfect 5-0 record and is coming off of a solid 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in Saskatoon.
The Oilers made massive roster moves on Saturday, cutting 18 players who were assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. With the moves, the lineup we will see the rest of the pre-season will be awfully close to the one that travels to St. Louis next week to battle the Blues.
Player To Watch:
Forward Anton Slepyshev has looked very good this training camp for the Oilers, and is making a case to sneak onto the NHL roster. Slepyshev has the needed skill to play in the top-six along with the speed, size and toughness to survive in the world’s best hockey league.
Slepyshev was skating with Anton Lander and Nail Yakupov on Monday, but he’ll get a shot with Hall and McDavid. If he can have another solid outing, he’ll increase his odds of making the big squad.
One very important thing to note with Slepyshev? His shot release is incredible, his goal against the Wild on Saturday was very, very impressive.
Story To Watch:
Griffin Reinhart has had an excellent camp to this point for the Oilers. He’s shown some solid promise as a shut-down defender and has handled heavy penalty killing duties. He’s back in the lineup tonight, and has a chance to show even more to an already impressed coaching staff.
If Reinhart posts a solid evening against the Coyotes? He’ll be awfully close to cementing himself as a full-time NHL’er come opening night next week. This is a huge story to watch tonight because it could completely reshape the blue-line before the start of the season.
Training Camp Battle To Watch:
The power-play in Edmonton could be deadly this season, meaning there will be a heated competition for roles on the unit.
Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot, Jordan Eberle and Justin Schultz will make up one unit, while Connor McDavid, Andrej Sekera, Anton Lander, Leon Draisaitl and Nail Yakupov will make up the second unit.
All of these spots make sense, but there are other players who could easily make their way up the roster, including Lauri Korpikoski, Mark Letestu and yes, Teddy Purcell.
I’ll be very intrigued to see how these units mesh and if anyone else can find a way to fight into the picture.
Oilers Lines:
Taylor Hall – Connor McDavid – Anton Slepyshev
Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Lauri Korpikoski – Anton Lander – Nail Yakupov
Matt Hendricks – Mark Letestu – Rob Klinkhammer
Andrej Sekera – Justin Schultz
Griffin Reinhart – Mark Fayne
Brandon Davidson – Nikita Nikitin
Ben Scrivens
Anders Nilsson
Final Notes:
The Oilers still need to cut at least two defenders, with the candidates being Darnell Nurse, Griffin Reinhart and Brandon Davidson. Davidson and Reinhart are both poised to get good looks tonight.
Teddy Purcell, Martin Gernat, Dillon Simpson, Mitch Moroz and Iiro Pakarinen are all currently injured and haven’t practiced in a number of days. Head coach Todd McLellan told the media on Monday that he’d be surprised if Purcell was not ready for opening night.
This is the lone meeting between the Oilers and Coyotes this pre-season.
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