An eight game pre-season remains a massive waste of time but ever so slowly we are starting to get a handle on what the opening night roster will look like and who will be in and who will be on the outside. Those who currently remain all have at least some path to making the opening night roster. Let's talk about those fringe players:
Dylan Holloway: After an impressive Rookie Camp, Holloway has continued to look like a high end prospect with top six potential. He has looked great through most of the pre-season, with the exception being the game against Calgary; a difficult game to take anything from due to the AHL level team Edmonton iced (again why pre-season isn't a useful tool to judge players). Tonight Holloway will play on a real skill line with Draisaitl and Hyman. Holloway if he makes the team was expected to play on the third line but there is a decent chance the forward might end up in the mix for top six deployment as well.
Devin Shore: Shore has been his typical self; a bottom line energy player who you know what to expect from every night. There is some familiarity there with the coaching staff and the fact that he can play wing or centre and only making 850,000 might help his case. Nothing really awful but nothing really remarkable about him either.
Tyler Benson: Benson is exactly what I want out of a fourth line player; a guy who recognizes he can be quickly replaced and does whatever he can on every shift to prove he belongs in the NHL. If the choice for the final spot is Benson or Virtanen, Benson is the obvious pick in my opinion. He has shown the physicality and aggressive play I think Holland expected to see out of Virtanen. Benson also looks much faster than I recall from last pre-season and has shown some of the offense the team expected when they drafted him in the second round.
Jake Virtanen: Virtanen will play tonight and needs to do something in order to make the lineup in my opinion. Virtanen has been invisible in almost every game he has played which is concerning for a guy on a PTO and trying to show he deserves a contract. If he skates under the radar again tonight I would assume we will see him released the following day.
Mattias Janmark: Hasn't been bad but hasn't dazzled either. Janmark has shown a scoring touch through his career but we haven't really seen any type of offense from him this pre-season. Normally Janmark would probably stick because he is a vet and would at worst be the 13th forward. With the Oilers cap issues one of him or Ryan needs to be sent down to clear cap space. Right now I think he is the player who gets waived.
Derek Ryan: Derek Ryan has two things going for him ahead of Janmark; familiarity with the coaching staff and the fact that he is the only right shot centre on the team. His penalty killing and the fact that he was decent alongside RNH on the third line in a pinch are also factors that make me think he will stay.
Philip Broberg: Broberg will make the team due to the cap and the glowing statements by the GM but so far I haven't seen enough to say he is deserving of an every night NHL roster spot. Some have speculated the extra weight Broberg has quickly put on is throwing off his speed and skating. Regardless, the young player is still an unfinished product, just not coming along as quickly as we might have hoped.
Ryan Murray: I thought Murray has done a good job of being a dependable third pairing player, especially with Broberg maybe not being ready for full time duties. He can eat the minutes that he is given and while he won't help bring much in offense or physicality, he can maintain low event hockey which isn't a bad thing for that pairing.
Jason Demers: Again, if the team had some more cap space I could see Demers getting a contract as I have liked what I have seen most nights from him. He got burned a bit in the Calgary game but again...AHL roster vs almost an NHL lineup. The fact is though there just isn't any space for him. I wonder if maybe the team will offer him an AHL deal and maybe do an NHL deal later in the year if injuries were to occur.
Dmitri Samorukov: Still doesn't look close to NHL ready. I imagine tonight will be his last game as he goes back to the AHL and plays top pairing minutes.
Markus Niemelainen: Continues to be the bruising hit first and ask questions later player he was in a limited amount of games last season for the Oilers. Still makes some questionable decisions at both ends of the ice and needs to play better positionally instead of always looking to level someone. He will go back to the AHL and will be a callup option at some point.
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That should cover all of the fringe options for this team and over the next week, we will see the final cuts made and get an idea of what the opening night roster will look like for the Edmonton Oilers. Just for fun, here is my prediction for the opening night roster:
Kane-McDavid-Yamamoto Holloway-Draisaitl-Hyman RNH-McLeod-Puljujarvi Benson-Ryan-Foegele
Nurse-Ceci Kulak-Bouchard Broberg-Barrie Murray
Campbell Skinner
Tonight's game is actually televised so enjoy!