About 24 hours after he was assigned to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL, Mark Fayne is back in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers. Just one night after the team’s worst defensive performance of the season, arguably their most steady shut-down rearguard is back in the picture. Hopefully he’s back in the lineup come Thursday.
The #Oilers have recalled defenceman Mark Fayne from the @Condors & placed defenceman Eric Gryba on Injured Reserve.
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 30, 2016
We haven’t seen Eric Gryba in almost a month, so it should come as no surprise that he has been placed on the IR. What exactly his injury is, to this point, remains a mystery. There were no rumblings of him being hurt while he was in the pressbox, and we haven’t heard anything new today.
As for Fayne, he’s a welcomed addition to this club in my mind. Regardless of what some will tell you, Fayne should immediately be placed into the lineup. Seriously, this is a number four or five defender that excels at things like marking his man and preventing scoring chances against. Those have both been issues for Edmonton as of late.
When the club travels to Winnipeg on Thursday night, I’d play Fayne over rookie Matt Benning, who again had a bad night on Tuesday. Edmonton’s defensive group made numerous mistakes and failed to mark their man on three of the four goals against. On the other goal, the Oilers had an inexcusably bad turnover committed by a defender end up in the back of the net.
The bottom line here is that Mark Fayne can play a solid defensive game at the NHL level. I also don’t think it is a coincidence that he got recalled after last night’s embarrassing performance by Edmonton’s defenders. Todd McLellan may not be Fayne’s biggest fan, but he’s not stupid and knows that he can perform at this level.
Let’s hope Fayne sees the ice tomorrow night, because I don’t think I can take another night like Tuesday.
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