The Edmonton Oilers slimmed their roster down to 33 by removing three players yesterday. They placed Mark Fraser on waivers for the purpose of sending him to the AHL. They sent Jere Sallinen directly to Bakersfield. And, they returned Tyler Benson to the Vancouver Giants of the WHL.
Benson injured his shoulder the week before the Young Stars tournament and never recovered in enough time to play in any games. That was likely the biggest disappointment of camp, from a player viewing perspective. When the Oilers drafted Benson they were taking a calculated risk. Benson had missed a significant amount of time to unrelated injuries last season, appearing in only 30 games and picking up 9-19-28 along the way.
Benson was tagged by many as a potential 1st rounder before the injuries but slipped to 32. He represents a pretty good chance at breaking the Oiler curse of high 2nd round busts if he can stay healthy. He’s surely very disappointed that he never got to show his stuff to Oiler brass this Fall, but all eyes will be on him as the season progresses. He is one of the top 3 Oiler prospects and there’s still a lot of reasons to be excited about his future…as long as he doesn’t follow the Tyler Pitlick model of health.
I thought Jere Sallinen played a reasonably sound game from what limited viewings I had, but he’s a 25 year old veteran of the KHL. He should be able to fit in at pre-season level of competition. He’s gone to the AHL and should Puljujarvi find himself in Bakersfield as well then he has a countryman there to make the transition to North America easier.
Mark Fraser still cant skate at an NHL level and that will never change. If there’s a short term injury and the Oilers need a body for 1 night then he should be able to step in and play between 12 and 15 minutes. If they need someone for longer then he’s going to be bypassed. He showed against the Kings that he could be capable if the game was played at his pace, but when there were bursts of speed he just couldn’t handle it.
The Oilers take on the Ducks tonight in preseason action tonight. Edmonton has to make even tougher decisions soon. There are only three preseason games remaining, counting tonight. This team needs to get down to 23 very quickly. This is going to be the last chance for a few players to make their impressions on the staff.
For the most part it’s guys like Pitlick, Caggiula, and Versteeg who have to make their case, but Nail Yakupov has been written off already by most people. The relationship he has with the team can be described as “strained… at best. Most believe that the two need to move on from each other, but Edmonton is not going to receive much value for him. And they wont ever if they never give him a chance to succeed. It’s a Catch 22 for the Oil. If there’s a current Oiler who needs a bigger game tonight than Yakupov then I don’t know who that is.
LINEUP
Davidson is still out and Versteeg tweaked something in the 3rd period against the Kings. Drai practiced on the wing this morning. The McDavid line gets the night off. When I see the defense pairings I will update the lineup below, right now it has everybody.
Pouliot RNH Puljujarvi Maroon Draisaitl Yakupov Hendricks Letestu Kassian Pitlick Lander Slepyshev
Klefbom Larsson Reinhart Fayne Simpson Gryba
Talbot Gustavsson
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Dr. Drai. Leon Draisaitl should be making his pre-season debut for the Oilers tonight. His World Cup of Hockey was a mixed bag in part to some up and down playing time. He scored some brilliant goals for Team Europe then found himself as part of the bench that didn’t see much ice when Krueger had his back against the wall. In Edmonton he’s going to be a huge part of the future. I see him as the 3C today, but another step forward offensively could change that. Then again, if Drake Caggiula can prove to be a capable 3C then Draisaitl might find himself on the RW this season. He performed fantastically in that position a year ago and it gives the Oilers a chance to load up the top two lines. I want to see how he looks tonight.
2) Defense Needed. Davidson was listed as Day to Day after Tanner Pearson launched his shoulder into Davy’s jaw. The hit was exactly the kind of thing that needs to be removed from the modern game. It served no purpose but to injure another player and it was needless. Pearson could have made the shoulder the principle point of contact but at the last second changed his position to target the head. He should be missing the next 10 games but the department of player safety will make their own determination on the play. I’m sure he’ll only get 1 game. In the wake of the injury it’s become clear that this defense is built on depth more than the strength of 2-3 players. If one goes down then the Oilers need someone else to step up and play meaningful minutes. If that’s Oesterle, Gryba, or Reinhart then fantastic. But it has to be someone.
3) Yak City Limits. With a 3rd line of Maroon-Draisaitl-Yakupov, this is the best chance Nail Yakupov has to show he can perform well away from top line duty. This is very much a possible opening day 3rd line for the club. If this trio can generate offense while taking on somewhat lighter competition then the Oilers have finally found a home for Yakupov, but more importantly they found the elusive 3rd scoring line that has evaded them for a long time. It’s not enough for Yak to show he can play at this level. He needs to show the Oilers why they should play him. Time to shine.
Puck drops tonight at 7PM Mountain Time and will be broadcast online at the Oiler website. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy