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P3 Oilers vs Canucks: Oilers bring top line to Vancouver |
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The Oilers take on the Canucks in preseason action tonight. It’s still so early in camp that there’s a glut of players kicking around who are still very much just fodder right now. It’s their job to prove they belong with the big club and deserve a longer look.
Yesterday Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned to the team after some rest. Those two looked very good playing games for Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey. Some are suggesting the experience might bring RNH back to the form we saw when he first broke into the league. I will note, as I have many times already, that the Nuge was on pace for 50 points last year, and that’s with a mangled hand in the final 9 games of the season.
Nugent-Hopkins’ poor 2015-2016 has been grossly overstated. Nevertheless, he gets a chance to play behind McDavid fulltime and still paired with a familiar face in Benoit Pouliot. The newcomer to that line is Jesse Puljujarvi. I am interested in seeing Puljujarvi adapt to the level of competition and to a center in RNH whose skill level is higher than anything else he’s played with in his career. But, that will have to wait at least a game as RNH and Puljujarvi are sitting this one out.
McDavid’s return will have Lucic and Eberle dancing, I’m sure. Lucic already mentioned that McDavid will force him to play the game at a higher pace. That’s a lot of beef moving at high velocity. It’s an exciting time as the Oilers start to take shape. The offense is going to start with McDavid and with the right mix it could be able keep going three lines deep.
Edmonton is sending its top line and their projected 3rd line out there against the Canucks. This has the makings of a decent hockey game, as far as preseason is concerned. This will be our first chance to see McDavid with Lucic. If Caggiula and Yakupov find chemistry then this camp will get really interesting.
LINEUP
RNH and Puljujarvi get the night off, but otherwise there are a good number of NHL calibre forwards in the top 6 of this game. There is a possible tweak or illness for Yak, who comes out almost as soon as he was initially announced. The defense hasn’t been announced other than Reinhart. I’ll update when more info comes out.
UPDATE: I used Reid Wilkins' projected defense
Lucic McDavid Eberle
Maroon Caggiula Versteeg
Pouliot Sallinen Slepyshev
Beck Khaira Pitlick
Reinhart Simpson
Nurse Davidson
Laleggia Musil
Gustavsson
Ellis
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) On The Road. Early in the preseason every team tends to give the home crowd something to look forward to and conversely tends to keep the away team as light as possible on NHL regulars. It makes for mismatches like we saw in Edmonton and Calgary on Monday. Yesterday the Canucks played the Sharks in San Jose and fielded a pretty weak club. Tonight we should expect more name players. Edmonton’s inexperienced players are going to be tested for sure.
2) Show Me. Drake Caggiula is centering a line with Maroon and Versteeg. This trio have a lot to prove to this coaching staff. Caggiula needs to show the Oiler brass that he is a viable option as a 3C between Maroon and either Yak or Versteeg. If he can do that then sooner or later he will get his chance. Be it because of injuries or the desire to play Drai on the wing in the top 6, Caggiula will have opportunities to play with the NHL team if he doesn’t mess this audition up. Yakupov finished last year with 7 points in 10 games, but pundits still question where he’s even worthy of playing on the 3rd line. Versteeg is playing in that spot tonight and he's getting the chance to show his stuff. Caggiula and Versteeg can help each other by finding chemistry early, but you have to wonder whether the final roster spot may come down to one or the other.
3) What Are You? Griffin Reinhart didn’t play in either game against the Flames on Monday but he’ll get his chance tonight to suit up. By eye he did a fairly reasonable job on the 3rd pair when he was with the Oilers last season. By number it wasn’t a very positive performance. He was one of the worst possession defenders on the team and both his most common partners performed better without him. The Oilers paid a huge price to get Reinhart. This year if he isn’t knocking down the door for a job then we have massive concerns. He’s still only 22, but he’s up against a deep field of left shooting defenders.
Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet One. Game On!
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