Oilers preseason hockey gets underway tonight as the Edmonton Oilers will send one team to the Scotiabank Saddledome to take on the Calgary Flames, while the Calgary Flames will send one team to the inaugural Rogers Place for the first NHL hockey game played at the Oiler’s new home.
The Oiler squads will be without Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who are resting from their tournament with the North American under 23 team, while Leon Draisaitl and Andrej Sekera prepare Team Europe to take on Team Canada in the World Cup Finals.
EDMONTON at CALGARY
EDM Lineup:
19 Patrick Maroon – 51 Anton Lander – 10 Nail Yakupov
23 Matt Hendricks – 55 Mark Letestu – 44 Zack Kassian
61 Braden Christoffer – 70 Jere Sallinen – 42 Anton Slepyshev
52 Patrick Russell – 43 Josh Currie – 72 Greg Chase
25 Darnell Nurse – 88 Brandon Davidson
82 Jordan Oesterle – 62 Eric Gryba
81 Caleb Jones – 74 Ethan Bear
50 Jonas Gustavsson
1 Laurent Brossoit
CGY Lineup: (projected based on roster)
Matthew Tkachuk – Sam Bennett – Troy Brouwer
Hunter Shinkaruk – Matt Stajan – Michael Frolik
Morgan Klimchuk – Ryan Lomberg – Alex Chiasson
Brandon Bollig – Dillon Dube – Austin Carroll
TJ Brodie – Mark Giordano
Jyrki Jokipakka – Dennis Wideman
Oliver Kylington – Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
Mason MacDonald
The group in Calgary won’t feature any big names for the Edmonton Oilers, as the guys everybody wants to see will be in Edmonton. It will be interesting to see how well Jere Sallinen plays at centre in Calgary with last season’s training camp surprise Anton Slepyshev. The “D” group is very young, including a pairing of 2015 4th and 5th round picks Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
EDM: Nail Yakupov.
Yakupov will need to hit the ground running to earn his spot in the team’s top nine forwards. Playing with Anton Lander and Patrick Maroon won’t be the biggest push, but if Yak can push the play with his bee-swarming style, he will make the Oiler’s take notice.
CGY: Matthew Tkachuk.
The 2016 6th overall pick will have all eyes on him at the Saddledome. The Flames were excited to see Tkachuk still available at 6th, and Tkachuk has a roster spot in front of him ready for the taking. I expect he’ll be on a scoring line.
PREDICTION:
The Oilers and Flames play a gritty game, but Brian Elliott will out duel Jonas Gustavsson (and/or Laurent Brossoit) en route to a 4-2 win. Tkachuk, Bennett, Chiasson and Giordano score for the Flames, Yakupov and Letestu answer for the Oilers in a losing cause. Zack Kassian will fight Deryk Engelland and taunt the crowd. But we will all love it.
CALGARY at EDMONTON
EDM Lineup:
27 Milan Lucic – 36 Drake Caggiula – 14 Jordan Eberle
67 Benoit Pouliot – 59 Ryan Vesce – 39 Jesse Puljujarvi
45 Taylor Beck – 54 Jujhar Khaira – 13 Kris Versteeg
53 Mitch Moroz – 71 Kyle Platzer – 26 Iiro Pakarinen
77 Oscar Klefbom – 6 Adam Larsson
84 Joey Laleggia – 5 Mark Fayne
80 Markus Niemelainen – 83 Matthew Benning
33 Cam Talbot
35 Eetu Laurikainen
CGY Lineup:
Lance Bouma – Freddie Hamilton – Michael Ferland
Chris Higgins – Linden Vey – Emile Poirier
Brett Pollock – Matt Bailey – Garnet Hathaway
Lauri Korpikoski – Mark Jankowski – Matt Frattin
Dougie Hamilton – Tyler Wotherspoon
Brett Kulak – Rasmus Andersson
Nicklas Grossmann – Kenney Morrison
Jon Gillies
Chad Johnson
All eyes will be on the new shiny toys Milan Lucic, Drake Caggiula, Jesse Puljujarvi Kris Versteeg (Taylor Beck) and Adam Larsson. This is the game I will be watching. The Oilers group is far more superior than the one the Flames are sending over, and the Oilers should make quick work of them in the first preseason game in Rogers Place. Interesting to see Lauri Korpikoski trying out for the Flames. We all know we won’t be missing him.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
EDM: Jesse Puljujarvi.
Pick a number. While many will be watching the aforementioned players in the first paragraph under the lineups, Jesse Puljujarvi will draw the most microscopes. Seeing how well he can handle playing NHL calibre players will be the most intriguing part of the game.
CGY: Emile Poirier.
Poirier started his pro career with a bang, before faltering last season in a minor-pro sophomore slump. Poirier is a hard working checker that can be a bit of a pest with scoring touch. He’s like a better version of Dan Carcillo. The 2013 22nd overall draft pick will want to impress his club.
PREDICTION:
The Oilers overpower a weak Flames squad with a 6-2 demolition. Lucic pots two goals, while Eberle, Versteeg, Benning and Caggiula tally the other goals. Lauri Korpikoski scores to make twitter LOL, and Linden Vey chips a goal home as well for Calgary.
NEW MASCOT
In other Oilers news, the Edmonton Oilers introduced a new mascot: Hunter the Lynx. While it won’t affect the Oilers on-ice, it sure made for a fun morning on twitter. If you think trading Hall for Larsson was lopsided, can you believe we traded the Octane cheer leaders for a Lynx that will be chased by Harvey the Hound?
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