It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! The Edmonton Oilers’ regular season begins tonight against the Vancouver Canucks at 8:00 PM MST. It’s the late game, nationally broadcast, called by Harnarayan Singh.
As of writing this post, the lineups have not been officially announced, but we can try to read into practice lines and combinations to get an idea of what to expect. As far as we know, Markus Niemelainen is still injured, meaning the Oilers have no cap space for any additions, either through call-up or signing. That means no Lavoie call-up, no Erne signing, forcing the Oilers to run with only 11 forwards tonight.
Forwards
I would expect the Oilers lines based on practice to look something like this going into tonights tilt against the Canucks
Kane-McDavid-Brown — (65.52 CF%, 100 GF% 4-0, in 30 min in preseason)
RNH-Draisaitl-Hyman — (36.84 CF%, 50 GF% 1-1, in 30 min in preseason)
Holloway-McLeod-Foegele — (McLeod didn’t play a preseason game)
Janmark/Ryan — The two extra forwards, I’d expect some line juggling, with McDavid or Draisaitl seeing some time with Foegele/Holloway. If McLeod looks a little off the pace not having played, I think Woodcroft would quickly switch Derek Ryan into that 3C spot until McLeod gets his legs back under him.
Defense
Even though Ekholm took part in the last Oilers practice, based on the pairings, it looks like the Oilers may utilize him as their 7th defenseman to ease him into the game, having not played any preseason games. If that’s the case, this is what the Oilers pairs may look like tonight (if Kulak is healthy and good to go as well).
Nurse-Bouchard — (50.93 CF%, 42.86 GF% 3-4, in 80 min in preseason)
Kulak-Ceci — (39.39 CF%, –GF% 0-0, in 32 min in preseason)
Broberg-Desharnais — (45.61 CF%, –GF%, 0-0, in 36 min in preaseason)
Ekholm
If Ekholm is looking good out their, expect him to move up the line up quickly, and we’ll likely see Desharnais slide into that number 7 role.
Goaltending
Based on practice, Skinner was in the starting lineup. However, based on their preseason gameplay, I would be starting Campbell instead. Perhaps the thought process is to give Campbell, who has played better, the home opener instead. Either way, I expect the Oilers to rotate their goalies unless there is an outstanding performance that warrants another start.
The Oilers’ goaltending doesn’t need to be outstanding for the Oilers to dominate this season; they just need it to be average. With Campbell having a bounce back and Skinner maintaining last year’s pace, Oilers fans should be able to enjoy the ride this season.
Canucks
The Canucks lineup hasn’t been released quite yet, but the rumours are that a bit of a flu bug is running through their lineup, so we may not see a fully healthy Canucks squad tonight. It’s important then that the Oilers take advantage of the Canucks to get off to a quick start against a division rival. Points in the bank are always important, so why not start with game #1.
Rig City Sports 