Tonight we can watch a hockey game with players wearing Oiler silks. The names will be mostly unrecognizable – the vast majority won’t ever factor into NHL games. Still, we have an Oilers game to watch and they’ll be playing against the Flames.
The Young Stars tournament is a fun way to dip our toes back into the Hockey season. Oiler picks have been ripping up this tournament for a long time and the under-sized Kailer Yamamoto has every chance to follow in the footsteps of the significantly higher drafted 1st rounders that came before him. He promised to make every team that passed him over regret their decision. He’s gunning for a spot on the main squad and that starts tonight as this tournament kicks off.
CAMP NOTES
The Oilers are reportedly out Anton Slepyshev to start camp. He has a foot/lower body issue that will keep him out for an unspecified amount of time. This is going to open up a spot, potentially, in the short term for a camp hopeful. Any time a winger goes down to injury between now and October, it’s a boost to the arm for players like Yamamoto.
The Oil also signed their 2017 3rd round pick (84th overall) Dmitri Samorukov to an ELC yesterday. This is an interesting development. Typically these players get at least one more year in to prove some level of development before getting inked to a deal.
Samorukov is a 6’2…, 180 pound defender out of Russia who came overseas to play for the Guelph Storm last year. He managed just 4-16-20 in 67 games with Guelph, but was previously touted as an offensive defender. He’s yet another lefty in the Leftorium that Edmonton has as a prospect pool.
For whatever reason they believe this kid has the goods. We haven’t really seen it in North America yet, but obviously that’s not a concern for Edmonton. Either they’ve seen something already from him that makes them believe year 1 was a blip in the radar for a kid coming over to a new continent/language/league, or they REALLY don’t want him going back to Russia. We should get a good look at him this September if that’s the case.
LINEUP
The Oiler lineup will be released later and when it does this space will be updated. Until then, we are guessing that Yamamoto plays tonight and Monday. They may opt to wait until tomorrow when the club plays the Jets rookie squad. It doesn’t really matter. Ratings and ticket sales aren’t a concern for the team in this tournament.
Safin Gambardella Yamamoto Koch Butcher Maksimov Saigon Bauer Fix-Wolansky Polei Glover Owre
Jones Mantha Pailin Bear Samorukov Lagesson
Wells Skinner
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Jitters. There are a lot of recent draft picks, camp invites, and players about to embark on their professional careers who will be playing with an NHL sweater on for the first time. No, it isn’t even main camp, but everyone that matters is watching and judging them starting now. Auditions that could change the course of their lives start now. Hell yeah there will be jitters. Get it out early with a physical shift and then let’s get right into the hockey game.
2) Yamo. All this kid has done at every level of competition is prove that his size was never an issue. He’s incredibly competitive and physical despite standing only 5’8… and 154 pounds. He makes up for that small size by scoring a ton. He had 42 goals and 99 points for the Spokane Chiefs, a team that rarely scored at all last season. Expectation at a tournament like this is that the highly talented forwards stand out. That’s what we’re looking for.
3) Graduating D. The Oilers may not have a sexy group of defensemen graduating to pro this season, but they have some volume. It’s Bear, and Jones, and Mantha, and Paigin from this tournament alone. As youngish as the defense is, at this level they should be one of Edmonton’s strengths in the tournament. They ought to have a pretty solid mix of size and skill. All eyes are on Bear and Jones to start, but any of those four could grab the attention early and run with it.
Puck drops tonight at 5PM Mountain Time via the Oilers Website. Game On!
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