Happy Saturday, friends! Tonight, we’ve got the Edmonton Oilers squaring off against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place for their fifth of eight pre-season games on the schedule.
As much as you probably expected me to complain about tonight’s pre-season game against Seattle, I’m actually excited about streaming an Oilers game on a Saturday night. From my side of the computer screen, there’s no better reason to chill out at home and crack a few pops than a divisional matchup. I do wish the game was on regular TV instead of having to find it online, but it’s a small price to pay for a reason to have a few brews and watch the boys take a twirl against the Kraken.
Now that the cuts are happening and players are being sent back to junior, the rosters we’re watching are starting to look much more like the ones that will be competing when the show gets going for real. That said, this is only the fifth of eight pre-season games, so we still have a long way to go before opening night on Oct. 9. And with opening day just around the corner, the most important thing for me is that everyone stays or gets healthy.
I can’t help but think about Drew Doughty fracturing his ankle in a meaningless pre-season game a few days ago, and that news has me 1000% ready to follow the team around and wrap everyone up in Styrofoam. The results don’t matter here, but everyone being healthy absolutely does. I’ve seen some folks concerned about the Oilers’ horrible record so far, but that’s the last thing on my mind with only 11 days until opening night. I’m just asking the hockey gods for everyone to make it through unscathed.
At this point, I only care that everyone gets what they need out of these tune-ups and let the rookies do the rest. As much as we all want to see McDavid do McDavid things, I wouldn’t be upset if he doesn’t play another pre-season shift even though I see he’ll be in the lineup against Seattle. Admittedly, the Doughty injury might have me wearing my Mother Hen cap too tightly right now, but I know this is all part of the process and I’ll do my best to put positive vibes out into the universe.

LINEUPS…

Oilers

RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – O’Reilly – Perry
Lavoie – Ryan – Hoffman
Pederson – Philp – Savoie
Ekholm – Bouchard
Dermott – Stecher
Gleason – Kemp
Pickard
Rodrigue
What you see listed above are the line combos from practice this morning according to The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman. Even though I spent the entire intro to this article complaining about the pre-season, I’ll readily admit that seeing this many regulars in the lineup makes this whole thing feel more real. Even though we’ve still got a handful of hopefuls like Sam O’Reilly hanging around, it won’t be long until the combinations we see will be what Kris Knoblauch plans on running with for game one.

Kraken

Schwartz – Stephenson – Bjorkstrand
Tolvanen – Wright – Eberle
Nyman – Meyers – Biro
Roed – Stephens – Winterton
Evans – Larsson
Oleksiak – Montour
Mahura – Lajoie
Daccord
Kokko
Seattle played last night against Vancouver (and won 3-1), so we don’t yet know who will be coming to Edmonton for the second half of their back-to-back set. Currently, Seattle’s training camp roster is down to 33 skaters and four goalies after cutting eight players before Friday’s matchup against the Canucks, meaning we will have a handful of guys making the trek to Rogers Place even after playing last night. Who that will be remains a mystery, but I’ll be sure to jump in and edit the line combos as news becomes available.

GAME NOTES

Edmonton Oilers prospect Sam O'Reilly
Edmonton Oilers prospect Sam O’Reilly at the Penticton Young Stars Tournament
  • Calvin Pickard will get his second start start of the pre-season after appearing in the split-squad game against the Flames earlier in the week, and I wonder if he’ll play the whole game or if Kris Knoblauch wants to see more out of Olivier Rodrigue.
  • Noah Philp will be playing on a line with Lane Pederson and Matthew Savoie, and I wonder if that’s a trio that may get some time together in Bakersfield once training camp is over. I’ve been really impressed with Philp so far this pre-season, and he’s gone from a player who I didn’t know much about to one I believe will play NHL games before the season is over. If nothing else, Philp’s play has been above what I’ve expected from him and I wonder how much more he has to do to realistically put himself in a spot to steal Derek Ryan’s job.
  • I’m having fun watching Matthew Savoie navigate the NHL pre-season knowing that he’ll be heading back to Bakersfield sooner than later. I remember the days when we would have needed Savoie to crack the NHL roster and contribute immediately, and it’s very nice to have the luxury of slow playing a skilled prospect like him to ensure that he’s ready. Our boy has all kinds of skill, but a year in the AHL playing big minutes is going to be massive for him.
  • I find it interesting that Sam O’Reilly is still here and also that a small chunk of people believe he could make the team. I think he’s played well for the most part, but I would be beyond stunned to see him stick around beyond these last few games.
  • Vasily Podkolzin has impressed me with his willingness to be aggressive on the forecheck, but I’d really love to see him get a goal or two on some of the opportunities he creates for himself. I know pre-season goals don’t matter at all, but I also don’t think it would be the worst thing if our new friend could build up a little confidence on his new club with a marker or two.

TONIGHT…

Photoshop: Tom Kostiuk
Game Day Prediction: The B-squad rolls into Seattle and sneaks out a 4-2 win with an empty-netter to seal the deal.
Obvious Game Day Prediction: You will say, ‘Who is that?’ at least four times in the first 30 minutes of play.
Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: Give me the Corey Perry pre-season hat trick!