Yesterday the Oilers split the camp in to the NHL group and the AHL group. It is a clear delineation to provide clarity about who is fighting for which jobs. For some of the players that’s going to sting, but the reality is that most of the jobs on the Oilers were already spoken for and the big club needs to be ready out of the gate.
One of the things that McLellan did mention was that he wouldn’t be surprised to see Darnell Nurse move from the AHL group to the NHL group relatively quickly. Going on only the words that came out of his mouth and the way he said them, I would say that he really means Nurse could be playing for the Oilers this year, but not necessarily on opening night. However, it’s still very early in preseason and things can change in a hurry.
As the club still needs to evaluate all of their options without over-playing everybody in the preseason, the AHL group will remain in Training Camp for a little while longer. I am expecting more cuts after Saturday at the very least, though.
Thus far into the preseason I’d say the most glaring problem with the club is (surprise) the Defense. I didn’t think Ference was particularly good in the game on Monday. He certainly wasn’t good enough to cover well for Nikita Nikitin who I thought looked quite poor. This is the thing that is going to hurt Edmonton the most. Nikitin as a 4.5 Million dollar salary cap boat anchor will be dragging Edmonton down all year unless he has a sudden increase in effectiveness.
He looks slow out there. He has a wicked shot but if he cant get to the puck or keep up with the play then what’s the point? McLellan was asked about Nikitin and his response was ultimately supportive of the big Russian. He effectively said that it was his job to make sure Nikitin is an effective player for them to start the year. It was very noble, but I think we’re talking about a lost cause here. I hope that I’m wrong. In any case, I don’t think Ference & Nikitin make a good pairing. They both need someone who can get to the puck quicker.
Of course, that was based on the first week of camp so maybe they just had a significant amount of rust and will look much better as camp wears on. I have my concerns.
LINEUP
We were told there was going to be a healthy mix of NHL group players and AHL group players in the game. This gives more rest to the NHL group while also allowing the AHL group players to establish themselves in the eyes of the new coach. I like it at this stage of the camp. The Jets appear to be playing very few NHL players. Their most interesting forwards are probably Burmistrov, Lowry, and Thomas Raffl. The defense isn’t much more exciting. As per Reid Wilkins the Jets just managed to meet the requirement of 8 NHL veterans.
I’ll post the Oilers’ lineup as soon as I see it confirmed.
Pouliot RNH Eberle Lander Draisaitl Yakupov Hendricks Letestu Korpikoski Slepyshev Yakimov Christoffer
Klefbom Schultz Reinhart Gryba Nurse Oesterle
Talbot Scrivens
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Start To Build Chemistry. The first preseason game is done and the now it’s about moving past the rust and into building real chemistry. It’s about finding lines that work and pairings that complement each other. It’s going to be about executing the breakouts and continuing to battle for pucks. We should start to see incremental improvements.
2) 3v3. Tonight the Oilers will play 5 minutes of 3v3 Overtime regardless of the score. I’m anticipating 2 forwards and 1 defender the entire time from the Oilers. While I think the Oilers are especially well suited for 3v3 hockey with their speed and skating up front, every team can make formidable trios. With so few players on the ice every squad should have at least 1 OT group that should be extremely dangerous. Tonight I would like to see McDavid and Hall with all the space in the world to pick up speed, but they get the game off. Nuge-Eberle and Drai-Yak should be exciting though.
3) Step Up. The Oilers have a trio in net that are going to get their opportunities to prove where they belong in the organizational depth chart. Tonight Talbot is going to get his chance to step up. The Oilers were undone by goaltending all last year. Only the delusional goalie apologists think an NHL team could be so bad that they could make a netminder post an .890 sv%. Talbot should get the full game in front of Rexall.
Puck drops tonight at 7 PM Mountain Time on the Oilers Website (Regional Restrictions). Game On!
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