This morning started off with the official announcement that Taylor Hall will miss the next 4 weeks with an ACL injury. If it rains it pours in Edmonton and the injury bug never seems to go away. The Oilers will now be forced to play without, arguably, their best player and certainly their top LW. Hall’s hit from Gryba looked concerning at the time, as it should when knees collide and one player buckles the way Hall did, but we were all hoping for some good news that just didn’t come.
The Oilers didn’t just stop there though, they also shut Ryan Smyth down for at least a week with an apparent groin injury. Many didn’t want to admit it but after a rough start Ryan Smyth was one of the Oilers best contributors. He’s also a veteran presence rounding out a very young team. The club needs to pull its socks up and weather this storm.
The LW position is a warzone right now with Hall, Smyth, and Joensuu all out with injury. The Oilers are lucky enough to have David Perron and Yakupov who can both play top 6 minutes on the left side. Thank the Hockey gods Yak wasn’t traded for some motivational posters and a picture of James Reimer, right? The loss of Hall is a big one, but if Yakupov can get going then he can help make up for the subtraction of #4’s offense. The burden will indeed be on the top line moving forward.
The Oilers also made a trade late last night to move out Mike Brown for a 4th round pick that Ryan has a write up for
here. The Oilers were up against the contract limit and the Cap but obviously have some bigger deficiencies than “toughness”, especially with Gazdic and Eager in their system. Mike Brown does a lot of things that make him a good team mate and an excellent fighter but beyond that he isn’t able to make that 4th line more dangerous than it was last year. It’s still a grouping that can scarcely play against the other team’s 4th line and survive.
Losing the extra contract relieves some cap pressure but it also gives the team some maneuverability when it comes to trades. There may not be something immediately on the horizon for them but now it will be easier for MacTavish to make a move.
LINEUPS
The Oilers have recalled Pitlick and Eager with Hall and Smyth out of the lineup. They leave two players down in Lander and Omark who have been able to provide much more offense, but perhaps because offense isn’t what they are looking for right now. The GM has stated that Pitlick has figured out how to play the game that will get him to the NHL. It will be his first National Hockey League game and it’s against one of the most storied franchises in the game. He will be living on pure adrenaline tonight. Watch for him to be flying out there finishing checks. Nick Schultz should be back in tonight too.
Yak RNH Eberle
Perron Arcobello Hemsky
Jones Gordon Pitlick
Eager Acton Gazdic
Belov J. Schultz
Smid Petry
N. Schultz Ference
Dubnyk
The Canadiens are 5-3 on the season with a +11 goal differential. They have scored the same amount of goals as the Oilers have (in 1 fewer game) but have been getting some solid goaltending from Carey Price. This must come as a relief to Habs fans after the substandard year that Price had last season. The Canadiens recently lost Prust for 4 weeks with a shoulder injury and Briere was concussed in the loss to the Preds as well. They have called up Holland and Blunden from the farm to suit up against Edmonton.
Galchenyuk Eller Gallagher
Bournival Plekanec Gionta
Moen Desharnais Bourque
Blunden White Holland
Subban Tinordi**
Markov Diaz
Gorges Bouillon
Price
**I moved Subban and Tinordi up to the 1st pairing because so many Habs fans were crying about Subban being listed on the 2nd pairing. If anyone is still upset please direct your ire to the Canadiens who released this lineup, not me.**
Edmonton is in tough tonight against a team getting good goaltending and with capable scoring. Combine that with the fact that the team needs to overcome serious injuries themselves and it’s a recipe for potential disaster. The Oil are missing Hall, Smyth, Joensuu, and Gagner and it seems like they are at least a month away from ever seeing the lineup as it was assembled on paper.
The team needs Yakupov and Perron to step up in a big way tonight. Yak has big shoes to fill taking Hall’s spot. This will be a drastically different experience playing his old linemate Galchenyuk than it was earlier this year when he was occupying a spot on the 3rd line. Now he has the feature spot. Can he play up to the pressure? Perron is playing in front of a lot of family and friends as he returns to Quebec. He will also be looking to make an impact on the game. I hope he doesn’t try too hard out there. His natural instincts will be enough to drive the Habs up the wall.
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Don’t try to be Taylor Hall. He’s gone but Yakupov doesn’t need to be him. He just needs to play his own game and he can fill in just fine.
2) That Darned PP. They are able to generate chances from it, but if they don’t capitalize they wont win too many games. Strike that 5v3 from the historical record. It didn’t happen.
3) Bodies to the Net. The Oilers need to get some traffic around Price’s crease. He is playing well and stopping a lot of shots. They need to get under his skin and block his view of the puck. On the PP or not, they need people going to the blue paint more often.
UPDATE: SHOTS FIRED
Boom.
Puck drops at 5:30PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy 
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»