He was the least looked at signing back on July 1st, and arguably the least talked about move from the whole summer. While Edmonton brought in Teddy Purcell and Benoit Pouliot to fix their scoring depth, and Mark Fayne and Nikita Nikitin to fix their top-four, they also brought in Keith Aulie to hold the number seven spot and keep Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse away from the NHL.
It hasn’t worked as planned a week into training camp, and Aulie is losing ground fast.
Aulie’s Performance:
Keith Aulie’s performance, to this point, has been a major disappointment. That’s saying something too considering the expectation was that of a seventh defender. Aulie provides size, and has also brought physical play through two pre-season tilts, but he hasn’t brought much to the table in terms of on-ice play.
Aulie has been exposed on multiple plays, and has been a defensive liability against teams featuring mainly prospects and AHL-level players. That’s not a good sign at all. On top of that, Aulie has looked rather slow, and looks more like a player best suited to be playing at the AHL-level.
When you aren’t providing any offense, and aren’t stopping the opposition defensively, what value do you truly have to a team? So far, Aulie has had minimal value for the Oilers, and if he keeps playing like this, he’ll provide no value come the regular season.
What Does He Have To Do?:
Not much really. Aulie needs to be physical, which he has, and make his presence felt by sending a message, which he did to a degree by throwing a monster hit in Winnipeg on Wednesday. That said, he needs to be better on his feet too, because so far he’s looked really slow, slower than I expected after re-watching some games of his from last season.
He also needs to do a better job defensively. Remember, less is more here with Keith. No one is asking for 40 points, heck no one is even asking for five points. He just needs to be solid defensively, make the simple play and keep the puck out of the danger zone. Through two pre-season games, against weak competition and with solid partners, he hasn’t done that.
It’s a bad sign for him, and a bad sign for the Oilers original plan.
What Happens Now?:
The Oilers will likely keep giving Keith Aulie chances, and they should. It’s pre-season, and it’s very possible he is just off to a rough start. No one is asking him to be Jason Smith, just be a decent number seven, that’s a highly realistic expectation if you ask me. Edmonton is going to keep running him out there and hope he turns it around and keeps the young prospects off the roster.
If he can’t? Then I think we will see Brad Hunt get a real shot with this team. Hunt struggles defensively, but possesses a bomb of a shot, and can move the puck really well. He was dynamite at the AHL-level last season, and looked decent moving the puck in his brief NHL stint last season. He’s a chaos defender, but the team used Phil Larsen a lot last season, so using Hunt isn’t out of the question.
Darnell Nurse or Oscar Klefbom could also push through to the NHL roster, but if they were to make the team they would need to play every night. Obviously they wouldn’t if they were the number seven defender.
Most likely thing? Hunt snags a roster spot in a training camp upset.
What Do YOU Think Will Happen?:
Me? I think the Oilers keep putting Aulie out there, and that he gets the job as the number seven defender on opening night. Edmonton seems hell bent on allowing Nurse another year in the OHL, which I think is the right move, and sending Klefbom to the AHL to start the year. MacT and Eakins have a plan, and I can’t see them going away from that because of their number seven defender.
Aulie will get the first crack deep into October, just like Will Acton did one year ago. Here’s to hoping he turns it around, because his play so far has certainly opened the door for debate.
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