Tyler Pitlick Out For Season

This one stings. The Edmonton Oilers have confirmed that Tyler Pitlick, injured in the club’s win on Monday against the St. Louis Blues, will miss the remainder of the 2016-17 season with a torn ACL in his left knee. Just an awful development for a player finally starting to find the range.

#Oilers President & GM Peter Chiarelli announces Tyler Pitlick will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL (left knee).

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 23, 2016

A second round pick in 2010, Pitlick has faced injuries his entire career and has never been able to settle in at the pro level. 2015-16 was his first true healthy season, and in it he established himself as a quality AHL player that caught the attention of new GM Peter Chiarelli.

It would have been awfully easy to flush Pitlick after he didn’t play for the Oilers last season, in fact I thought the club was going to, but he got a one-year deal and had a great training camp. Pitlick earned an NHL job, seriously, he outperformed his competition and earned it over the course of the preseason.

He did even more during the regular season, appearing in 31 games and registering 8-3-11. He was Edmonton’s second best secondary scorer in the bottom six and he had the ability to impact the game in a few different ways from his spot down the lineup. Yes, he was scoring, but he was also playing physical, creating energy and playing well defensively.

This injury sucks, there is no other way to put it. Tyler Pitlick finally earned an NHL job, he was finally settling in at this level and looked to have a career ahead of him. Now? Now his breakout season has been taken from him, and his future remains uncertain.

I feel for Tyler Pitlick, and I hope for the best in his recovery. This guy did not deserve this fate, and to be quite honest it’s actually tough to see as a fan.

Impact On The Oilers:

Pitlick being out cuts a big hole into Edmonton’s secondary scoring. The club is losing eight goals from the bottom six and is losing its second most important player after Mark Letestu in the bottom six. It creates a hole for the Oilers, one that the club is going to have to fill.

Matt Hendricks has played well these last two games, but I still have questions about what he is at this stage. Jesse Puljujarvi doesn’t have the trust of his coach and I think it would be best to send him to the AHL for a stretch, meaning the replacement for Pitlick is not currently on Edmonton’s active roster.

Anton Slepyshev played well in the NHL this year and has been dynamite (2-3-5 in four games) in the AHL since being sent down. His return, after the roster freeze, seems extremely likely. Jujhar Khaira (6-7-13 in 18 games) has also performed quite well in the AHL this season and could also be a candidate for recall to replace Pitlick.

Anton Lander (8-8-16 in 10 games) has just crushed the AHL this year and is, in my mind, the least likely recall option. Still, Lander is an internal option for this club and should be mentioned here. I think he gets one more crack with the Oilers before this season ends.

I suspect that, when the roster freeze lifts, the Oilers will give Anton Slepyshev a lengthy look as Pitlick’s replacement in the lineup. If that doesn’t work out, I suspect we will see Peter Chiarelli hit the trade market for a similar player around the end of January.