The Oilers trimmed their training camp roster by six names on Saturday. Four players were assigned outright to the Bakersfield Condors to the AHL, while two others – David Musil and Taylor Beck – will need to clear waivers to be sent down.

The #Oilers have assigned forward Jujhar Khaira, forward Mitch Moroz, goalie Eetu Laurikainen & d-man Joey LaLeggia to the @Condors.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 1, 2016

The #Oilers have also placed d-man David Musil & forward Taylor Beck on waivers for the purpose of assignment.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 1, 2016

I wonder a little about the decision to assign both Beck and Musil so early. On the face of it, it’s disappointing for both players, since they should have been in the mix for one of the end-of-roster jobs with the Oilers. It’s possible that Edmonton sent them out so early (at least in part) in the hopes of keeping them in the system – NHL rosters are crowded right now and it’s pretty tough for other teams to make waiver claims seeing as they’re still putting their respective rosters together. 

Nevertheless, an early demotion doesn’t say good things. Musil should have been firmly in the mix for the No. 7 defenceman job and certainly ought to be out-lasting the Mark Frasers and Dillon Simpsons of the world. Beck has a decent resume – I profiled him here – and always seemed like a guy with a far outside shot at sticking. Both should be in the recall conversation later in the year, though we may already know how Todd McLellan feels about defencemen with Musil’s footspeed issues. 

The other player worth spending some time on is Khaira. He was seemingly eclipsed by Drake Caggiula before the puck had been dropped in the first exhibition game, and it’s a little surprising to see him dropped from camp so early after playing 15 games in the majors last season. He does have another season of waiver exemption, so the challenge now will be to build on last season’s surprisingly good offensive performance in the AHL. If he does that, the Oilers should be able to find room for a cheap 6’3″, 214-pound forward who can play all three positions. 

Moroz, Laurikainen and Laleggia were all inevitable cuts based on what we knew of them coming into the year.  Moroz only had 10 points in the AHL last season and did well to last as long as he did; he had a decent camp and with waiver rules being what they are basically has the coming year to turn himself into an NHL candidate. All three of these players are on expiring contracts and badly need strong minor-league performances to stay in the organization’s plans. 

As always, one of the noteworthy things about cuts like this one are the players who aren’t included. Simpson would seem to have opened some eyes; he has another year of waiver exemption and would have been an easy cut. Veterans Fraser and Jere Sallinen are still around, too; it’s easy to read too much into that but both are probably in the recall conversation this season, too. 

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