How Much Does The Hall Injury Hurt The Oilers?

The short answer is deeply, losing the team’s best player is a huge hit to any momentum the team may have had going forward. But there are options;

Craig MacTavish did well this offseason with solidifying the depth among wingers. The team went from having maybe three real NHL wingers last season to having no less than seven this season. The additions of Pouliot and Purcell along with Perron last season, and the fact the Nail Yakupov has been playing better might make the fact of losing Hall a little easier pill to swallow.

Today at practice the Oilers have Benoit Pouliot skating alongside RNH and Eberle, I would like to see Nail Yakupov get that chance, he does prefer the right wing but being a left-handed shot he’d probably fit right in. Nuge and Ebs can get the puck to anyone and all Nail will have to do is get open, they’ll find him. Pouliot is not a bad fit, but if leaving Yak on the third line is a bit of a slap in the face no?

David Perron is another guy that should be able to jump up and play with the first line, he scored 28 goals last season and even though he’s had a slow start he had the chops to fit in and contribute. Perron is also familiar playing on the top line as he spent some time there last season when Hall wasn’t around due to suspension and injury.

Purcell is the longer shot here, he’s a right winger and a right handed shot. His chances of playing up are much lower, but he is offensively talented and his stats line in previous years shows that he can put points on the board.

The Oilers, stadings aside, are a much better team and the players on the roster are there to step up. One of the options mentioned above should have what it takes to lessen the damage done by the loss of Hall. Either way the Oilers best player needs to hurry up and get better, they’re better with him than without.

Other Stuff and Things

Team captain Andrew Ference was suspended three games this afternoon by the NHL for his hit on Zach Kassian in Saturday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks. Personally I think that 3 is a little much, I didn’t expect any more than 2. In Reaction to the suspension the Oilers have called up defenseman Keith Aulie, I think Aulie will be around now for the long haul as the teams seventh defenseman and that Klefbom will be returned to the minors once Nikita Nikitan and Ference are both back in the line-up.

I wonder if we will see the return of Viktor Fasth between the pipe on Tuesday for the game in Philly? Ben Scrivens has played well in Fasth’s absence but Eakins said at the beginning of the year that the two would be splitting starts. That has to make in Viktor’s turn you’d think.

Here’s hoping for no more suspensions and no more injuries and plenty more wins *Knocks Wood*

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