Pre-Season is over, the next time we get to watch the Oilers on TV it will be regular season action. The Oilers head out on the road to start and the schedule isn’t what I would call forgiving. They open Thursday in St. Louis, then Nashville, Dallas, back home for a game versus the Blues, then out again on the road for games in Calgary and Vancouver. It’s going to be a big early test for this team to come away over .500 in their first 6 games.
Before the regular season officially gets underway, the Oilers brass has a few decisions to make. The 23 man roster has to be finalized by Tuesday afternoon, and the players aren’t making any of the decisions easy on management.
Depth
Depth has been a common theme of my posts in the last few weeks, and it’s very refreshing. The Oilers have a glut of wingers that seem suited for roles on the team. Leon Draisaitl and Anton Slepyshev have played their way onto the team as far as I’m concerned. Teddy Purcell looked strong last night on a line with Nuge and Pouliot, the 3rd line of Lander, Drai and Yakupov was impressive as well. And how about the 4th line, if you watched last nights game, that line did exactly what was expected; they crashed, they banged, held play in the offensive zone on multiple occasions, hell, even Gazdic looked good last night.
On defense, things got a little bit clearer yesterday. Peter Chiarelli placed aging veteran Nikita Nikitan on waivers for purpose of assignment (he’s cleared), a move applauded by most of you. It’s refreshing that management is willing to eat salary cap by having a player in the minors making big coin, instead of what we’ve seen in the past where these players have been kept on the roster at the detriment of the product on the ice.
Besides Nikitan though there is still a battle for the 6/7 defensive spot. Brandon Davidson has shown well through camp and pre-season, and because of that he’s still around the team. Then there is what to do with Andrew Ference, rumor has it he’s approached the team about giving up the captaincy. Ference seemingly has come to the conclusion that he’s not going to be an everyday big minute defenseman and trying to be an effective captain with limited ice time will prove rather difficult, again another sign of just how decent of a person and leader Ference is.
Proposed Roster
I think the Oilers are going to end up going with 13 forwards, 8 D and 2 goalies and it’s going to look like this.
If I’m correct it means we are going to see Klinkhammer will be sent down by Tuesday and the Oilers just announced that Scrivens has been placed on waivers so the goaltending questions have been answered. Klinkhammer will need to clear waivers to be assigned to Bakersfield, there is a realistic chance that he’ll be claimed and if management thinks that is the case they may be more willing to send down Gazdic whom will most likely be left untouched on the waiver wire.
Running with 8 defenseman isn’t ideal, but the team has already sent down Nikitan. There’s little chance that they’ll want to be paying both Ference and Nikitan to play in the minors, and as I mentioned Davidson has played well enough that if other teams have noticed there is a good chance he’d be claimed if put on the waiver wire.
Stuff
McLellan and Chiarelli are going to have a tough decision to make when Jordan Eberle is ready to return to the line up. Anton Slepyshev has been lights out this pre-season, adding the exact kind of size, grit and smart play to the line-ups top 6. When Ebs is ready to rejoin the team that spot on McDavid’s line is his, so what do you do? The easy answer is send him down to Bakersfield, but what happens if his fantastic play continues?
The other option is to try and make a trade. Before you jump all over me for this, I’m not saying you trade Eberle….Really, unless the return is a number 1 defenseman then he goes nowhere. But one of Teddy Purcell and Nail Yakupov will probably made available, and if I’m trying to make room for Ebs then Purcell is the guy I’d try and move out.
Getting rid of either of those players isn’t ideal, but having difficulty making room for an elite forward in Eberle on this Oilers roster is a good problem to have. One this team hasn’t had for a long long time.
Things
It all starts Thursday, and if you’re looking for a place to watch the game our friends over at OilersNation are once again hosting a party at the Pint Downtown all the while raising more money for a fine local charity, check it out here and buy your tickets.
Speaking of charity, our Annual #OilersRigLive4MS is being planned, and tickets will be available soon, keep checking back for more infromation.
Oh and did you know you can buy tickets for all Oilers games, both home and on the road right from this site? We’ve partnered with Ticketmonster and they’ve got tickets for everything, concerts, games, you name it. There are even seats available for the home opener on October 15th. Check it out here, or you can always access the ticket sales from the advert on the side of this page.
And most importantly, if you haven’t already read this, Jackie Dawson wrote an amazing article on the Harsh Reality of being a woman who writes and talks about sports and the absolute garbage they often have to deal with. Make sure you give it a read!!
The Regular Season is upon us. Thanks for Reading.
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