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G1: Canucks @ Oilers - Cup Aspirations |
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Long gone are the days where fans hope that the Edmonton Oilers "might" make the playoffs. "Maybe Ty Rattie can be a 25 goal scorer next to McDavid." "Maybe Griffin Reinhart will be a top four defenseman." Maybe all of these European players who have never played a day in the NHL will all pan out." Year after year fans hoped for the best while still expecting the worst.
Over the past few years that has changed. The Oilers became a regular playoff team; albeit with limited success to start. Last season they pushed past that as they made it to the Western Conference Finals.
Most of the team that made it that far is back. There are young up and comers like Dylan Holloway and Stuart Skinner who look poised to make their mark. The goaltending situation looks like it will be stabile under Jack Campbell. The defense remains the weakest part of the group but there is a good collection of talent and strong puck moving ability up and down the pairings. Jay Woodcroft and his systems helped drastically reduce the number of goals against and now he has had a full training camp to implement his design.
Making the playoffs isn't good enough anymore for this team, nor is simply winning a round. The expectations for the organization and the fanbase is for the Edmonton Oilers to be Cup contenders this season. You know it. I know it. The team knows it. How they deal with those expectations will be a story all season.
OILERS LINEUP
Kane-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Holloway-Draisaitl-Hymen
RNH-McLeod-Foegele
Malone-Shore-Ryan
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Murray-Bouchard
Campbell
- As of right now it looks like Kailer Yamamoto will not be ready to play tonight, though he has been skating with the team.
CANUCKS
Pearson-Miller-Boeser
Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Hoglander
Podkolzin-Horvat-Garland
Joshua-Aman-Lazar
Hughes-Schenn
Ekman-Larsson-Poolman
Stllman-Burroughs
Demko
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson appears to be dealing with a cold or similar illness but is expected to play tonight. Mikheyev, Myers, and Dermott all remain out.
THINGS TO WATCH FOR
1) ICE TIME
The Edmonton Oilers have the deepest top nine group that they have had in well over a decade and it will be interesting to see how they are deployed tonight as Woodcroft gets final line change. Vancouver has a solid third line in Horvat-Podkolzin-Garland and this will be an excellent first test for the Oilers own third line of RNH-McLeod-Foegele. RNH has not been a great 5 on 5 producer in his past few seasons. He needs to find more ways to contribute.
2) TOP LINE JP
As I fully expected, Jesse Puljujarvi remains not only in the top six, but on the top line next to Connor McDavid and Evander Kane. This trio did an excellent job last season of outscoring and limiting the chances of the opposition. Puljujarvi when he is at his best is an excellent forechecker who can force the opposition to give up the puck. He needs to be doing that regularly tonight to maximize the number of chances that McDavid and Kane have.
3) HOLLOWAY
Holloway was originally expected to have a good shot at cracking the lineup, most likely as a third line winger. His play and chemistry with Leon Draisaitl early on has forced the Oil's hand as he starts on the second line. Pre-season and the regular season are entirely different animals. This is Holloway's first real NHL game (5 minutes in a playoff game don't really count). He will need to shake off the rookie nerves right away and do all the things that got him into this position in the first place.
4) D PAIRINGS
I'm looking forward to seeing Darnell Nurse healthy and providing all the excellent qualities that make him a top pairing defender in the NHL. I expected Bouchard and Kulak to be an early pairing but instead it looks like Barrie will play alongside Kulak while Bouchard and Murray take third pairing responsibilities. The defense as a whole remain a weak spot on this roster and the team will need to rely more on strong system play. We will see who does and does not excel at that.
Enjoy the game!
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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