"We have 2 NHL centreman and I'm not sure who the other one's will be." Dallas Eakins on Oilers centre situation.
— Gene Principe (@GenePrincipe) September 18, 2014That sounds promising!
Look, we all know that it’s RNH and Gordon that are the 2 definite NHL Centermen on the Oilers. We can also assume that the Oilers will be filling the OTHER 2 spots from the players who are at camp, since we know that trading for a C right now is not usually an option (Still hoping San Jose does something Colossally stupid).
The Oilers split their camp into 3 “Teams… and each team has 4 forward lines and a full set of defensemen. If we’re looking at the list of Camp invitees then we can say that there are 10 names vying for the last 2 open positions. If we eliminate the players without a snowball’s chance in hell I think we can get to 5 players competing for the last spots. Those 5 men are:
Arcobello Lander Yakimov Draisaitl Acton
Even in this list of 5 guys I think 2 of them have been included very generously. Yakimov is a rookie to the North American game but he impressed greatly at the Prospect tournament and Acton already occupied a spot with the Oilers for a short time and was found lacking.
In all reality I think the Coach was trying to light a fire under a few guys so that they would understand that nothing is a given at this stage, but that he probably knows EXACTLY how he would like to start the year. By saying what he did he gives himself an out in the event his ideal line combinations blow up in his face but it also sends the message that this is still a competition.
Here are the 3 “Teams… at Camp. Let me know if you think Eakins tipped his hand here too.
TEAM GRETZKY Hall RNH Eberle Hendricks Gordon Joensuu Jones Jones Ford Kessy Ewanyk Holmberg
Nikitin Fayne Aulie Klefbom Hunt Gernat
Scrivens Fasth
TEAM MESSIER Pouliot Draisaitl Perron Hamilton Acton Ptlick Roy Yakimov Chase Moroz Khaira Baltisberger Krushelnyski
Nurse Petry Marincin Schultz Craig Betker
Bachman Tuohimaa Bunz
TEAM KURRI Yakupov Arcobello Purcell Pakarinen Lander Pinizzotto Winqvist Williams Tkachev Hamilton Platzer Miller Houck
Ference Simpson Musil Rowley Oesterle Ludwig Boland
Brossoit Rimmer Bouchard
I think we can see right into the mind of Dallas Eakins and his staff when we look at the Forward lines more so than the Defensive pairings. You can take the top 2 lines from each team and generally say that these will be the ones here late in camp. And with Draisaitl, the verbal is that they want their young centerman surrounded by lots of experience.
That’s all well and good but if he ends up playing on a line with Perron in an NHL regular season game then you’re saying that he is the team’s 2C. That’s a lot of pressure on the kid.
It’s just training camp though, and he will be playing in games during the pre-season where he will be the acting 2C. No doubt this is a situation we will surely be watching as it develops.
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