Tonight at 8:10 PM mountain time in Edmonton, the Oilers will face off against the Vancouver Canucks in preseason action. The Oiler's training camp roster is beginning to narrow down and give us an idea of what the actual team will look like come opening night, but there are still several questions to be addressed. First, let's take a look at tonights line up.
Forwards
L1: Smyth/Hall/Hemsky
L2: Perron/Gagner/Eberle
L3: R.Hamilton/Khaira/Yakupov
L4: Jones/Acton/Brown
Defense
L1: Nurse/Petry
L2: Grebeshkov/Belov
L3: Fedun/Hunt
Goaltenders
LaBarbera
Rimmer
At forward, most of the big guns are dressed and ready to go. Line one, centred by Mr. Hall, is one that I could see getting some time together in the regular season. A nice mix of veteran grit, skill and youthful fire. (Ahem, guess who brings that?!) I'm a big fan of line number two. Perron has been showing Edmontonians what he's made of, displaying nice hands, solid board play and a great head for the game. To me, Perron seems mature beyond his years on the ice and he'll be a great influence for a young Oilers squad. Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle will be looking to continue shaking of the rust, even though Eberle already has 4 points in the preseason.
Line three of Ryan Hamilton, Jujhar Khaira and Nail Yakupov is a bit of a mixed bag. Obviously Yakupov is a lock for the team. Khaira would be greatly benefitted by some more seasoning in the WHL, but the preseason experience is none the less good for him, although I view him more as a winger long term. Hamilton is a guy I've been pulling for for several years now, and if he has a big game tonight it would be a great step towards locking up a bottom six role on the big club. The fourth line consists of Will Acton and Mike Brown, both vying for legitimate fourth line spots, and Ryan Jones, who is refining his game after suffering from a brutal eye injury last year.
On D, we have Darnell Nurse lining up with Jeff Petry. I like this pair because it gives Nurse a chance to play with the Oilers current top defenseman and Nurse's possible D partner of the future. I see Nurse and Petry as somewhat similar players in style, both are good skaters, tall and rangy with a bite to their game, and good at moving the puck. Look for this pair to handle a lot of minutes.
Pair two features the two Russians. Grebeshkov will be suiting up again, only this time next to the new comer Anton Belov. It's clear these two were paired together to give Belov a sense of comfort, but the big Russian is definitely one to watch tonight. Look for him wearing number 77 tonight as he tries to impress the Oilers brass enough to earn a permanent spot. On the third pairing we have two players, both long shots for a roster spot. Brad Hunt has shown to be an excellent puck handler and Taylor Fedun continues to display a great mind for the game, but it's unlikely that either spends much more time with the big squad due to the depth of Edmonton's blue line.
And finally, in net! Jason LaBarbera will get the start and work the first half of the game, and from there Ty Rimmer will take over. Rimmer is an intriguing guy to keep an eye on. He's in camp on a PTO, but if he impresses enough he could earn a contract due to the lack of prospect depth in Edmonton's crease. I've been told that Rimmer is an excellent goalie, able to make the big saves when necessary and take over games. I'm very hopeful that Rimmer has a good showing, as we could really use another solid goaltending prospect in the system.
At the other end of the rink, Eddie Lack and Joe Cannata will likely be the goaltending tandem tonight. Alex Edler and Chris Tanev are the only two defensemen I've heard will be in the line up for sure. At forward, Hunter Shinkaruk, Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce and Mike Santorelli will all be on the ice looking to prove themselves while Chris Higgins, Jordan Schroeder and Jannik Hansen are also likely to dress tonight.
With 10 days until the start of the season, it's an exciting time of the year with many things for hockey fans to look forward to. Let me know what you guys think of the game tonight, I'll be watching, will you? As always, thanks for reading! -Johannes
You can follow me on Twitter @JohannesHockey
Forwards
L1: Smyth/Hall/Hemsky
L2: Perron/Gagner/Eberle
L3: R.Hamilton/Khaira/Yakupov
L4: Jones/Acton/Brown
Defense
L1: Nurse/Petry
L2: Grebeshkov/Belov
L3: Fedun/Hunt
Goaltenders
LaBarbera
Rimmer
At forward, most of the big guns are dressed and ready to go. Line one, centred by Mr. Hall, is one that I could see getting some time together in the regular season. A nice mix of veteran grit, skill and youthful fire. (Ahem, guess who brings that?!) I'm a big fan of line number two. Perron has been showing Edmontonians what he's made of, displaying nice hands, solid board play and a great head for the game. To me, Perron seems mature beyond his years on the ice and he'll be a great influence for a young Oilers squad. Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle will be looking to continue shaking of the rust, even though Eberle already has 4 points in the preseason.
Line three of Ryan Hamilton, Jujhar Khaira and Nail Yakupov is a bit of a mixed bag. Obviously Yakupov is a lock for the team. Khaira would be greatly benefitted by some more seasoning in the WHL, but the preseason experience is none the less good for him, although I view him more as a winger long term. Hamilton is a guy I've been pulling for for several years now, and if he has a big game tonight it would be a great step towards locking up a bottom six role on the big club. The fourth line consists of Will Acton and Mike Brown, both vying for legitimate fourth line spots, and Ryan Jones, who is refining his game after suffering from a brutal eye injury last year.
On D, we have Darnell Nurse lining up with Jeff Petry. I like this pair because it gives Nurse a chance to play with the Oilers current top defenseman and Nurse's possible D partner of the future. I see Nurse and Petry as somewhat similar players in style, both are good skaters, tall and rangy with a bite to their game, and good at moving the puck. Look for this pair to handle a lot of minutes.
Pair two features the two Russians. Grebeshkov will be suiting up again, only this time next to the new comer Anton Belov. It's clear these two were paired together to give Belov a sense of comfort, but the big Russian is definitely one to watch tonight. Look for him wearing number 77 tonight as he tries to impress the Oilers brass enough to earn a permanent spot. On the third pairing we have two players, both long shots for a roster spot. Brad Hunt has shown to be an excellent puck handler and Taylor Fedun continues to display a great mind for the game, but it's unlikely that either spends much more time with the big squad due to the depth of Edmonton's blue line.
And finally, in net! Jason LaBarbera will get the start and work the first half of the game, and from there Ty Rimmer will take over. Rimmer is an intriguing guy to keep an eye on. He's in camp on a PTO, but if he impresses enough he could earn a contract due to the lack of prospect depth in Edmonton's crease. I've been told that Rimmer is an excellent goalie, able to make the big saves when necessary and take over games. I'm very hopeful that Rimmer has a good showing, as we could really use another solid goaltending prospect in the system.
At the other end of the rink, Eddie Lack and Joe Cannata will likely be the goaltending tandem tonight. Alex Edler and Chris Tanev are the only two defensemen I've heard will be in the line up for sure. At forward, Hunter Shinkaruk, Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce and Mike Santorelli will all be on the ice looking to prove themselves while Chris Higgins, Jordan Schroeder and Jannik Hansen are also likely to dress tonight.
With 10 days until the start of the season, it's an exciting time of the year with many things for hockey fans to look forward to. Let me know what you guys think of the game tonight, I'll be watching, will you? As always, thanks for reading! -Johannes
You can follow me on Twitter @JohannesHockey