The Edmonton Oilers cut seven players from training camp this morning, including the WHL duo of Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear. Along with Bear and Jones, Markus Niemelainen was returned to Saginaw while Scott Allen, Joey Benik, Jaedon Descheneau, and Frankie Simonelli were sent to Bakersfield.
I was definitely expecting Jones and Bear to stick around a little bit longer in camp. I’m not disappointed by the decision to send them back, nor am I criticizing them. However, I did think the organization might have wanted those two kids around a little longer with the coaching staff.
What matters is that they get back to their appropriate level of hockey and start playing in games. Defense in the NHL is hard and so much depends on mobility, positioning, and decision making. The WHL is where Bear and Jones are going to get the most opportunities to hone those skills and they were never serious threats to earn jobs.
As for the others, the NHL team really is all but set and there will be no shame in failing to make the cut this year. As wide open as a few spots are on the roster, they really are between just a handful of players. The Oilers still have a lot of players in main camp. After tomorrow’s game I expect there will be another deep cut to the camp roster.
McLellan split the remaining roster into two halves today. The first group was the AHL group (including Pitlick and the PTO players). The second was the NHL group (including Caggiula, Puljujarvi, and Pakarinen). The implications seem clear. For anyone who is in Group A that wants to be in Group B, they better perform now.
F in 'AHL' group:
— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) September 27, 2016
Benson, Pitlick, Russell, Hamilton, Khaira, Vesce, Sallinen, Christoffer, Slepyshev, Platzer, Chase, Moroz, Beck, Currie.
Lines:
— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) September 27, 2016
Lucic-McDavid-Eberle
Pouliot-RNH-Puljujarvi
Maroon-Caggiula-Yakupov
Hendricks-Letestu-Kassian
Versteeg-Lander-Pakarinen
With no more split squad games, there’s no point in keeping most of these players around for much longer. It’s do or die time already for the guys in Group A. Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy