As I’m sure most of you already know, Anton Slepyshev is set to make his pre-season debut tonight in the Oilers’ last tuneup match of the year.

The Oilers’ situation on the right side is an interesting one and Slepyshev has an opportunity to make an impact if he plays his cards right. With Kailer Yamamoto bursting onto the scene, Jesse Puljujarvi already waiting in the wings, and Strome taking reps at 3C, Anton Slepyshev could have a pretty wide runway for playing himself into a job. How will the young guys be slotted in the top 9? How will McLellan slot him in with Kassian looking at a similar role? Does Draisaitl play with Connor, leaving Ryan Strome at centre?

Unfortunately for Slepyshev, the ankle injury that kept him out of training camp and most of the pre-season has allowed some uncertainty to play out on the right side, but the bright side is that everyone else is still shaking off their summer rust and he still has time to catch up. The tricky part will be how quickly he can get his timing back and his body back into game shape, because there is internal competition happening and those guys have had a head start. There’s no doubt in my mind that Slep was taking care of himself over the summer, but it can take a minute before an NHL player gets back into the rhythm of things.

Tonight’s game will be our first look at how Slepyshev’s ankle is doing and how it will hold up early on in the year. We found out that he was going to miss training camp on September 7th, and an ankle injury can be one of those annoyances that hangs around all season if not given enough time to heal. Is three weeks enough time to make sure that peg of his is sturdy and ready for the twists and turns that happen in a hockey game? For Slepyshev’s sake, I hope it was enough time because he’s got some size and skills that would add a nice element into the mix.

That said, high ankle sprains (if that was actually the problem) are no joke and it will be interesting to keep an eye on Slepyshev’s skating tonight to see if he’s as quick as normal.