Fayne recalled, Gryba to IR

The lineup shuffle continues. 

This morning, the Oilers announced that Mark Fayne – who was waived Monday – was recalled today, while Eric Gryba was placed on the IR.

There seems to be a large divide in feelings for Mark Fayne. The analytics community still seems to support Fayne. Many feel that he would be a rock on the back end but those feelings seem to be lost in the eyes of the Oilers coaching staff.

Fayne has found himself as a healthy scratch this season, playing in only one game with the coaching staff opting for a younger, faster, more cost-effective rookie in Matt Benning.

To be fair, Mark Fayne hasn’t been much of a point producer for the Oilers. In defencemen over the last three seasons with 500+ minutes played, Fayne ranks ninth out of 12 players in 5v5 scoring at a .37 points per hour pace. The only defencemen behind him are Nikita Nikitin (.37), Darnell Nurse (.34) and Griffin Reinhart (.22).

In that same time frame, Fayne has ranked 10th in GF% at 40.8% and seventh in CF% at 47.8%.

Feelings about Fayne aside, the Oilers usage of Fayne is a bit weird. He has two years (including this one) left on his deal with a cap hit of $3.625m. Who knows what the next step is for him and his career, but it is clear that nobody wants to take a shot at him on the waiver wire.

If McLellan and co. don’t feel he is good enough to play (and it appears they don’t), the Oilers might just be stuck with him as a 7-8 for the next year and a bit.

It is unknown what ails Eric Gryba, but the Cult of Hockey’s Kurt Leavins noted that he did participate in a pre-game skate against the Coyotes last week.

Jim Matheson is un-sure of how Gryba got injured:

MARK FAYNE’S CAREER WITH THE OILERS SO FAR

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2014-15	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	74	2	6	8	14	-21	—	—	—	—	—
2015-16	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	69	2	5	7	18	-6	—	—	—	—	—
2015-16	Bakersfield Condors	AHL	4	0	1	1	4	0	—	—	—	—	—
2016-17	Edmonton Oilers	NHL	1	0	1	1	0	1
	NHL Totals		386	17	47	64	131		24	0	3	3	6