Where Do We Go From Here?

Thankfully for Oilers fans, it will be nearly impossible for the Oilers to have a worse performance tomorrow against the Canucks than they had in the season opener. Both teams in the opener had to skate with 17 players (one man short) due to injuries and salary cap restrictions. So the Oilers can’t use the one-man short excuse because Vancouver was right there with them.

Playing a man short is obviously not ideal, so where do the Oilers go from here? Well, they have a couple of options that could arise between now and puck drop tomorrow to get back to a full roster. In the CBA, there is an emergency recall option that the Oilers (and Canucks) now have at their disposal until players get healthy. In basic terms, a team who plays a player short for one game can emergency recall a player who makes $875,000 or less to play with the team until they have enough healthy bodies that they can once again ice a full roster. So the Oilers have a few players who fit that bill currently, but it’s not their only option.

Option 1

Option #1 is pretty straightforward. Mattias Ekholm has been skating in practice, and many thought he might play as the 7th defenseman on Wednesday, but he ultimately sat out because of his hip injury. Not a lot has been said about his injury. Woodcroft said in training camp he’d be ready for game one, but he wasn’t. Maybe there was a bit of a setback, who knows? If Ekholm is healthy and ready to go, he would slot into the Oilers lineup. They’d run 11-7, a full roster. This is the simplest scenario, and the most beneficial for the Oilers, as Ekholm could help settle down the defense and slide everyone back down into a spot more suited to their skills. This is the scenario Oilers fans should be hoping for.

Option 2

Niemelainen is healthy and gets sent back down. This may be the case, as nothing has been announced by the team regarding emergency recalls yet. The Oilers may be waiting for Niemelainen to be cleared by doctors so he can be sent back to the minors, allowing the Oilers to recall a forward. If Nemo’s injury was long-term, the Oilers would have already put him on injured reserve to clear cap space, and they wouldn’t have the roster issue they are currently facing (the same goes for Ekholm). That means these men are close to returning, just waiting for the doctors’ word for the next shoe to drop. If Nemo is healthy and gets cleared, then the Oilers would not have to use an emergency recall and could pull someone up from the minors regularly, which would be the preferred option (vs emergency recall).

Option 3

The Emergency Recall. If the Oilers do go this route, it’s because they’ve already played a game a man short and Ekholm is not ready to play. In this case, it seems very likely that the Oilers would call up a forward so they can run 12-6 and cover themselves a bit in the case of a forward getting injured. Like last game when Holloway left in the 3rd and left the Oilers with only 10 forwards.

Who are the likely emergency recalls? Available to the Oilers are Raphael Lavoie ($874,000 – so just barely under the $875,000 limit), James Hamblin ($807,000), Drake Caggiula ($775,000), Lane Pederson ($775,000), or unlikely but you never know Ben Gleason ($775,000).

Based on the verbal from upper management, they don’t really want Lavoie up with the big club to play on the 4th line and get small minutes. He’s a volume shooter with skill. He is more likely to be called up when a more significant forward gets hurt on the Oilers and can get a real opportunity in the top 9. A Lavoie recall is unlikely.

Drake Caggiula was sent down fairly early relative to the others on this list and didn’t make a huge impact in the preseason, I think a recall is unlikely.

James Hamblin made it into a few games last season for the Oilers, also was sent out early in camp. I think he gets recalled later in the season but not now.

Ben Gleason played the best of all the recall options in the preseason. He is an interesting option. The Oilers would have to go 11-7, which is not uncommon for them. It would spread the load a bit more on the back end. However, it still seems unlikely.

That leaves Lane Pederson, one of the final cuts from camp, a center. He has a bit of NHL experience and seems like the most likely call-up for the Oilers on an emergency basis.

Which one is it?

I think option 1 is the most likely. Ekholm has been practicing with the team, and I’m hopeful he’ll be ready to go. Considering no recalls have been made yet, that may be a sign.

The Condors play their first game tonight, keep an eye on their roster when the puck drops. It may give clues if someone may be on their way to Edmonton because the Oilers wouldn’t likely want their recall to be playing in back-to-back games with a flight in between.