Oilers Stuff and Things Pre Season Edition

Pre-season is well underway and there are a few interesting story lines developing out of Oilers camp. From players making a case to stick with the team, goaltending controversies, and a few other issues that have been bugging me about pre-season.

Camp Battles

I wrote yesterday about the Oilers having “Depth” at defense and took a lot of flack for it, it’s okay I have big shoulders. I’ll clear up what I meant by depth, the Oilers are currently sitting with 10 defensemen that have a reasonable shot to make the team. Is the team really that stocked at the position? No. But there are 7 NHL 1 way contract guys there, with a few players making a strong case to start the season with the big team.

You can move Reinhart up into Ference’s spot very easily. Gryba has been so/so and Nikitan, well he’s Nikitan. Darnell Nurse should start the year in the AHL, as well as Davidson. Davidson does have to clear waivers to be sent down. As I stated in the previous article the best answer may be to try and trade one of the players on the bottom of that list not named Nurse or Reinhart. Defense isn’t the only position where we are seeing interesting story lines develop;

The injury to Teddy Purcell has created room for Leon Draisaitl and Anton Slepyshev. Draisaitl has been playing fantasic, and not just when he’s lined up with Connor McDavid either, every line he’s found himself on has been successful. He’s been heavy on the puck, great on the cycle and is creating offensive chances just about every shift. The arguments about his foot speed being an issue are getting smaller by the day.

Slepyshev is having a hell of a good camp. The last signing former GM Craig McTavish made appears to be a good one. The large winger has shown a nose for the net, playing well in the young stars tournament earlier this month, he’s continued his hot play scoring the GWG’s in the last two pre-season games.

Unless a trade is made it’s more than likely that Slepyshev starts the season in Bakersfield, but you can bet he’ll be the first call up if there is an injury or under performer in the top 9.

Goaltending Controversy?

Cam Talbot, Ben Scrivens, and Anders Nilsson are locked in quite the battle so far. Nilsson pitched a no hitter in the game last night. Talbot looked good, and Scrivens has shown better than he was last season.

The underdog fan in me wants to see the newly signed Swede win the job as the back up. Nilsson posted an amazing season in the KHL last year, and if he continues that he could be the goalie to finally give the Oilers the 1A/1B combination they’ve been trying to create since Dwayne Roloson left the team. One has to think that Nilsson is still the leading candidate to be the number one backstop on the farm, not based on performance but based on the fact that the Oil will have to pay Scrivens 2.5 million to ply his trade in the AHL.

Trade may be another option here, but the Oilers aren’t the only team that may be shopping a tender before the season starts. The Calgary Flames have 3 goalies, Jonas Hillier, Kari Ramo, and Joni Ortio. Ortio WILL NOT clear waivers if the Flames try and send him down, and teams do not want to deal with the three headed goalie monster ever. All three of the Flames options are probably more attractive to teams in search of a goalie, but depending on asking price the Oilers may be able to find themselves a dance partner nearer to the start of the regular season.

Stuff

Pre-Season is to damned long. Face it, players are coming into camp very near game shape. The Oilers play 8 games in the pre-season if you include the split squad game with the Flames earlier this week. That is probably 3 to many games, teams coming into Edmonton or playing on the road (i.e Minnesota on the road in Saskatoon yesterday) are sending at best their AHL players, it’s very tough to evaluate your players when they’re going against inferior talent all the time. Reduce the pre-season schedule and we’ll see better line-ups earlier.

The other pre-season issue that is stuck in my craw…..WHY NO GAMES ON TV YET. Listen the Oilers do a fine job with their website but it’s still not that reliable when trying to watch the online stream. The Jets have been on TV, the Flames and Canucks have been on the tube twice already. The Oilers were gifted one of the best young players in generations and everyone is chomping at the bit to watch him, SO WHY THE HELL AREN’T THEY ON MY TELEVISION? There is slightly good news on this front however, as the last two pre-season games will be televised. Home on October 1st vs the Canucks can be watched on Sportsnet 360 and Away October 3rd, again vs the Canucks, can be seen on Sportsnet.

Things

Who was the most talked about defenseman in Oiler land this summer? Brent Seabrook. There was plenty of talk about him possibly being available in a trade, well cross him off your wishlist folks, he’s signed an 8 year 55million dollar extension with the Blackhawks. Too bad he would have looked good in Oilers silks.

And one last thing, #OilersRigLive4MS has been scheduled for February 26th, 2016 at On The Rocks in downtown Edmonton. We’re planning some pretty amazing things and as always we’ll feature and absolutely amazing line up for our Silent Auction. One change this year is we’ll be selling tickets to the event ($10 each), 100% of all proceeds will go the MS Society and each ticket will include a free beverage. Stay tuned for more updates, we’ll have more news soon.

Thanks for reading