Cult of Hockey: Game(s) on! Edmonton Oilers kick off pre-season with home & away doubleheader v. Flames (UPDATED)
Bruce McCurdy, Edmonton Journal, Published on: September 21, 2015 | Last Updated: September 21, 2015 1:09 PM MDT, Source
The march towards the next NHL game that really matters takes a couple of steps forward tonight, when the ~top-40 members of Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames face off in a pair of simultaneous games, one in each city.
With each step the bar is raised. For a true newcomer to the scene such as Connor McDavid, this is something like Day 12 since he checked in for medicals, proceeding to the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, the high-profile home debut vs. the Alberta Golden Bears, then his first training camp with NHL veterans, and now into what passes for an NHL game against what passes for NHL opposition. By Wednesday, the team will have progressed to a single-focus game (at home vs. Winnipeg Jets), and presumably to considerably smaller group than the current 50.
40 of those 50 will take to the ice tonight. We’ll start with the road game, since that roster is being released first due to the timing of morning practice. (Too bad the games themselves aren’t staggered as well; a half-hour offset would give curious fans following the live streams on the Oilers’ website the chance to follow both games to a much greater degree. Maybe next year, eh, Flames/Oilers?)
Edmonton’s two split squads have largely been on display since Friday, as they are basically (with minor tweaks) Groups A and B that had separate workouts at training camp but played a couple of “intra-squad” type scrimmages against each other. Makes perfect sense to keep those groups together, they are very well-balanced both by eye and by the tight scores of those two scrimmages. With the McDavid group obviously slotted for an Edmonton debut, that sends a more experienced top two lines into the Saddledome:
That would be lines 1A and 3B from Jonathan Willis’ look at McLellan’s line combinations which have been clear right from the get-go, and in a very logical structure. I agree entirely with Willis’ take that the top four lines as currently constructed would be a reasonable season-opening line-up.
Of course tonight they make the top two lines on two distinct squads. The Calgary group will be supplemented by a bottom six of role players, tweeners, and hopefuls, all of whom are large and/or aggressive men. That “second” line isn’t apt to be getting pushed around either. Greg Chase and Connor Rankin were the extra forwards, surely a bit of a burn for the former Hitmen, especially Chase who left Calgary with a burr in his saddle less than a year ago.
Tonight the RNH and Letestu lines will see a fair bit of Calgary’s (would-be) top two offensive centres, Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett, although McLellan has specifically stated he wants to avoid match-ups and get a look at all of his players against all levels of competition, which is a pretty wide range in games like these. Once again sound logic from the coach, perhaps an obvious detail but one he has no intention of missing.
The defensive group features two pairings that were established in main camp, plus a third that was a mainstay of the Penticton group. Slightly surprising to see the rookie pro LaLaggia getting the push ahead of Musil, who was reportedly the “extra” defenceman in this morning’s skate. This observer is especially interested to watch the Reinhart-Gryba duo, acquired in separate trades on draft weekend. That duo has a non-zero chance of starting the season as the third pairing, but there’s no time like the present to begin making their case in game conditions.
One area that did change was the goalies flipped squads, as Scrivens and Nilsson were in the McDavid group at camp. But it stands to reason that the organization wants to unveil most of its key acquisitions before the home crowd in Edmonton. That includes Cam Talbot and Andrej Sekera as well as McDavid. Expect McLellan himself to make his own Oilers debut at home.
That line-up has now emerged, with one question mark hovering over the sixth defenceman.
This version is updated to include Jordan Oesterle over Brad Hunt in the bottom pairing. Talbot will indeed make his Oilers debut at home, while Brossoit is expected to be the backup based on the latest from Oilers’ Twitter feed. (Their website projects Laurikainen.) Mclellan is quoted as saying the group will be down to three NHL netminders after tonight, clearly referring to Talbot, Scrivens and Nilsson.
The at-Edmonton defensive six is a much more veteran group than will play in Calgary, with even the third pairing of Davidson and Hunt having several pro seasons under their belt, including last year when they were the top pairing for Oklahoma City. Sekera, who signed the richest deal of any unrestricted free agent this past summer, will line up with another UFA from a year ago in Mark Fayne. The second duo were signed in a similar manner (though one was technically a trade). Both Ference and Nikitin are under the gun to prove their worth, and have been the subject of considerable scrutiny in Oil Country. Nikitin will flip to the right side, as Oilers only have three righties (Schultz, Fayne, Gryba) in their top eight, or top dozen for that matter.
Up front all eyes will be on McDavid, making one version of his professional debut, the closest thing to date to an NHL setting. Should they click, his pairing with Taylor Hall might be the fastest duo on one line this burgh has seen since Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson. It’ll be fun to watch them try.
It should also be fun to watch that all-Euro second line, featuring a pair of centres in Anton Lander and Leon Draisaitl who will flip defensive roles depending on who is first back in the D zone, and faceoff duties depending on we’re not sure what just yet.
As speculated in our training camp preview, the union of Draisaitl and Lander opened up a centre spot for Andrew Miller, who was strictly a winger in his impressive 9-game trial last season. The small but versatile right-shooting forward reminds of Mark Arcobello, with a similar background and stats. Arco is long-gone from these parts but did manage to score 17 NHL goals in a trade-pocked season a year ago. Tonight he lines up on an all-tweener line with Hamilton and Pitlick.
Luke Gazdic meanwhile has switched squads, presumably so he can cook McDavid’s pre-game meal. Like Khaira in Calgary, he’ll line up on the fourth line alongside a couple of guys signed to minor-league deals, in this case Winquist and Ford. It’s a nice push for the former, who like Christoffer showed enough in Penticton to earn a good look in main camp. Ford is more in the McRae tree of AHL veteran.
Here are the remaining ten players in camp who are not suiting up in either contest tonight:
Moroz remains out with a hand injury sustained in the first game in Penticton, as Oilers continue the tradition of losing guys to fights in that tourney. Simpson is also reported to be in questionable health though he did participate in main camp, as did Gernat coming back from off-season surgery. Of the rest, expect a few of these guys to play vs. the Jets on Wednesday, though the window will close rapidly after that.
For their part, the Flames squads as reported on Oilers’ website appear much less balanced pair, with the #1 goalie, top three defenders, the first line plus hotshot Sam Bennett all set to play in Calgary. That group includes prize summer acquisition Dougie Hamilton, who will get the home game for the same reason that McDavid does here. The Edmonton group features underrated two-way centre Mikael Backlund and the defence pair of Kris Russell-Dennis Wideman, and otherwise not a whole lot of proven depth.
The outcomes of the games are of course meaningless, though it is a decent opportunity to consider the relative depth of the two Alberta clubs. We’ll have full coverage with commentary about all 40 Oilers here at the Cult of Hockey, with Young Willis covering the home game while I’ll take the road contest. Both games kick off at 19:00 and will be live-streamed on the Oilers’ website.
