The final game of the Young Stars tournament goes on this afternoon. The Oilers have won their previous 2 games and now get set to take on the Canucks rookies. Whether here, the preseason, or the regular season, beating the Canucks is always fun.
As we hoped, Chad Butcher continued to show his offensive abilities but Stuart Skinner stole the show in the 2nd game. The Lethbridge Hurricanes goaltender drafted 78th overall last year had a shutout and showed off both sound positioning as well as the athletic ability to make up for a few mistakes he made. You cant ask for much more than the goalie to stop them all. He did just that.
While this tournament concludes the Oilers will have their prospects play one more game but it will be against the combined NAIT/Macewan team. Main camp opens shortly after that and we’ll see who really caught Edmonton’s eye. The split squad game happens in one week, they will need bodies and there are certainly going to be chances for those who show their stuff in these final two games to earn at least 1 game in camp.
For my money, Kiril Maksimov has been better at this tournament than I expected, along with Butcher. The Oilers 4th line might catch the Canucks off guard today.
LINEUP
Butcher plays all 3 games for Edmonton while Bear sits out this one.
Gambardella Butcher Yamamoto Pawlenchuk Szypula Safin Polei Bauer Coleman Maksimov Glover Wolansky
Jones Mantha Paigin Khaira Schioler Strand
Starrett
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Loaded Top Line. Edmonton has put its three most offensively proficient prospects at this tournament together on the top line. The older Gambardella takes the LW slot while Butcher is pivot and Yamamoto occupies RW. Butcher has been the offensive star of the team so far, but Yamamoto came in with the most hype. He was good in his first game, but he’ll be looking to score for sure. This trio ought to give the Canuck defenders all they handle. There’s an experience factor for Butcher and Gambardella that gives them an advantage while Yamamoto is raw skill. It should be fun to watch if they can gel as a unit.
2) Different Looks. The Oiler top 4 brings 2 distinct looks. Jones and Mantha bring in a healthy dose of puck moving ability and offense. Jones has plus skating ability which should make him a dangerous transporter. Mantha has shown a willingness to unleash his shot from the point. He’s also a giant at 6’5… and 225 pounds. The Oilers follow that pairing up with the sizable Paigin-Khaira unit. Khaira is the younger brother of Jujhar and a 6’3… 200+ pounder who looks small beside the 6’6… Paigin. This pairing ought to bring more physicality though there is some hope that Paigin will be able to add more offense in time. Overall, this group should make life difficult for the Canuck forwards as much as it makes life easier for Edmonton’s. At least at this level of competition.
3) Make Juolevi’s Weekend Worse. Olli Juolevi was drafted 5th overall in 2016 – the top defender taken in the draft. At the time the thought was that the Finnish defender would turn into one of the top puck movers of his class. A year went by but the offense remained stagnant. He’s reportedly come to camp heavier, but now the question is whether the added weight is slowing him down. He hasn’t performed particularly well at this tournament, standing out for being the guy beaten to the outside too often. With Yamamoto looking to make his mark in this tournament, let’s watch to see if he and the other Oiler forwards continue to abuse the Vancouver prospect.
Puck drops at 3PM Mountain Time on the Oilers Website. Game On!
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