The Edmonton Oilers made a number of moves this morning to the roster. The team waived two players for the purpose of assignment to the AHL, and also claimed one player off of waivers.
Defender Philip Larsen, who had a decent camp, was waived this morning. Larsen is a solid young puck-mover, but still has some things to work on. His move to the waiver wire was described by Dallas Eakins as a salary cap thing, which kind of surprises me a little bit. I thought he earned a spot on this team, and I’d rather have him over someone like Nick Schultz, who is making $3.5 M for the year.
There’s a good chance in my mind that Larsen gets claimed. From a roster stand point, this leaves Edmonton with six healthy defenders, while both Potter and Grebeshkov recover from injury. I have to think Potter will end up as the seventh defender in due time, and of course there is a small chance another move gets made.
Forward Ryan Hamilton was also placed on waivers, which is a move that surprises me as well. Hamilton is a decent sized body and in my mind earned a spot on the Oilers opening night roster. I think Hamilton will slip through waivers and end up with the Barons, and I also think we will see him back up here at some point.
From a waivers stand point, the Oilers claimed Dallas Stars tough guy Luke Gazdic this morning. Gazdic is a 24-year old forward from Toronto, and stands in at a hulking six-foot-four and 240 pounds. He’s a fighter, in fact he had 80 penalty minutes in the AHL last year in just 59 games. He also scored four goals and had seven assists.
Gazdic replaces Steve MacIntyre, who was claimed last week off waivers. Mac was injured on Friday night in the pre-season finale when attempting to throw a hit. MacIntyre is suffering from a knee injury, and there was no real timetable for his return.
The Oilers now have three enforcers on the roster. Gazdic, along with Mike Brown and Steve MacIntyre give the Oilers a lot of toughness. Question is now, will it help the team on the ice? I’m not sure that it will.
Gazdic will be on the Oilers roster for Tuesday night. You can check out some of Gazdic’s work with his fists here:
Also, the Oilers named former Boston Bruin defender Andrew Ference as captain earlier this morning. Dave Gordon has a write up on that here: http://www.theoilersrig.com/2013/09/29/breaking-news-andrew-ference-is-captain/
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