The wicked Pacific Northwest trip begins for the Columbus Blue Jackets with the hottest team in hockey today - the Edmonton Oilers. Puckdrop is at 9pm from BallySports Ohio. This is their first meeting of the season for the two teams.
Edmonton has been on a tear, winning the last 13 straight games to get themselves into the divisional race for the playoffs. After starting the season ice cold, they have demoted starting goaltender Jack Campbell to Bakersfield and fired head coach Jay Woodcroft. They have since hired Kris Knoblauch from the Hartford WolfPack, who coached Connor McDavid in Erie.
The Oilers also just signed free agent forward Corey Perry over the weekend after having his contract mutually terminated with the Chicago Blackhawks two months ago.
Edmonton had a couple notable roster moves over the summer.
Out
Nick Bjugstad returned to Arizona after they moved him last deadline.
Klim Kostin and Kailer Yamamoto were traded to Detroit.
Former Blue Jackets’ forward Devin Shore signed with Seattle.
In
The AHL depth got stronger with the additions of the returning former Oiler Drake Caggiula; ex-CBJ forward Lane Pederson; and defender Benjamin Gleason.
Connor Brown is reunited with McDavid.
It is being speculated the goalie duel is youngster Stuart Skinner against Elvis Merzlikins. This could be the Oilers/Blue Jackets trade train with the teams scouting each other since December. Wonder if it lessens with Martin gone.
Columbus is sticking with the same lines they did against New Jersey, expect they now have three extra skaters and no extra goalie on this swing. They need to find a way to score five or more goals and win against the current offensive dynamo in Edmonton.
Projected Lineups
Edmonton Oilers
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins—Connor McDavid—Zach Hyman Evander Kane—Leon Drasatil—Warren Foegele Mattias Janmark—Ryan McLeod—Derek Ryan Sam Gagner—James Hamblin—Connor Brown
Darnell Nurse—Cody Ceci Mattias Ekholm—Evan Bouchard Brett Kulak—David Desharnais
Stuart Skinner Calvin Pickard
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau—Cole Sillinger—Yegor Chinakov Adam Fantilli—Boone Jenner—Jack Roslovic Kent Johnson—Dmitry Voronkov—Kirill Marchenko Alexandre Texier—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth
Damon Severson—Adam Boqvist Ivan Provorov—Andrew Peeke Jake Bean—Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins Daniil Tarasov
Scratched — David Jiricek, Emil Bemstrom, Mathieu Olivier
Injured — Zach Werenski, Patrik Laine, Nick Blankenburg
Players to Watch
Edmonton — Connor McDavid — the superstar is here and could come back and catch Kucherov in scoring.
Columbus — Adam Fantilli — on the wing once again, let’s see this trail run works for the rookie.
Predicted Final Score
EDM - 8
CBJ - 4