Edmonton Oilers promote forward Dylan Holloway to first line alongside Connor McDavid

Dylan Holloway, welcome to the first line.

The Oilers rookie forward has been promoted to the top line alongside Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto for Wednesday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks.

Here, according to Oilers broadcaster Jack Michaels, are how the lines will shake out:

Holloway-McDavid-Yamamoto
McLeod-Draisaitl-Hyman
Kostin-RNH-Janmark
Foegele-Puljujarvi

Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Barrie
Broberg-Bouchard
Desharnais

Holloway has had an up-and-down start to his rookie campaign with the Oilers. He’s drawn in for 38 games on the season scoring two goals and five points. Despite that, he’s played over 10 minutes in just 11 of his games this season.

I don’t think the Oilers intended on using him in such a limited fashion this year, as they said at the start of the season, but an injury to Evander Kane might be what has kept Holloway playing in a depth role. It’s curious to see the Oilers give him a bump up the lineup tonight.

Could they be giving Holloway a good run in the top-six ahead of Kane’s return to see what they really have? Entirely possible. The Oilers will have to do some cap gymnastics to get Kane back in the lineup when he’s healthy, and a trade of someone like Warren Foegele or Jesse Puljujarvi could help open up some cap space to do so.