Scottie Upshall released from PTO

Scottie Upshall won’t be an Edmonton Oiler, it seems. Despite not suiting up for the Oilers in any of the team’s pre-season games, the veteran has been released from his professional tryout.

Mark Spector reported earlier today that three — Brad Malone, Keegan Lowe, and Kevin Gravel — players were placed on waivers. The Oilers confirmed that report with a Tweet of their own and also added that Cooper Marody was heading down to Bakersfield to join the Condors while Upshall was let go.

The 36-year-old Upshall seemed like a near certainty to crack Edmonton’s roster as a fourth-line, penalty killing, veteran presence type, but knee issues didn’t help his cause. Mark Spector reported that Upshall failed his physical at the beginning of camp and I imagine a concern about his health is ultimately what resulted in the Oilers deciding not to keep the veteran forward around for the season.

Upshall was one of three players brought in on a PTO this fall. Defenceman Jason Garrison and Alex Chiasson were the other two. Chiasson has looked quite good thus far in the pre-season and easily has the best chance of the two to crack the roster but nothing is certain at this point.

The Oilers have three more pre-season games before they’ll head over to Europe to kick off the season. I figure they won’t waste much time and they’ll be down to their 23-man roster pretty soon.