The Oilers head out east on their rodeo road trip — I guess it will now be called the bull rider road trip? While you can debate the new nickname for the road trip one thing is for sure, the season so far has been as troublesome as trying to master riding an angry bull. The team and fans alike can only hope that this four-game trip goes as smoothly as roping a calf.

The roster is going to look a little different when the Oilers hit the ice against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. The team finally sent down junior aged Kailer Yamamoto. The kid did nothing wrong, in fact he impressed big time and will more than likely rip up the WHL, but the organization made the right call. They also called up Brad Malone, who was undoubtedly electrifying during his camp with the Oilers. The only thing that worries me about him is that I noticed he tended to grab and hang onto players a little too long when pinning them into the boards. Regardless of a few undisciplined moves during camp, his addition to the lineup will hopefully inject some desperately needed life into the bottom six.

The one surprise for me is that the Oilers haven’t rewarded Ty Rattie with a call-up as well, since he has nine points (6G, 3A) in 10 games. Three of them have come on the powerplay, and he isn’t afraid to shoot the puck (24 shots). He is, however, a noticeable -5 on the season. However, if the Oilers struggles continue, how long can they ignore calling the natural right winger?

They’ll face Jordan Eberle for the first time when they visit the ugly Barclays Center. We’ll have to look at that car advertised behind the net while we see if the Oilers can bounce back from Sunday’s matinee disaster against the Red Wings. The Islanders are off to a respectable start of 8-5-1, and you know that Eberle will have money on the board for the boys.

How much fun was hyping the Hall versus the Oilers game last week? So much fun that we get to do it all over again right away. You know that the headlines will read something like “Eberle’s looking for revenge,” and honestly he probably is. The Oilers will have to face a speedy, talented Islanders team with an angry Ebs leading the charge.

If playing two former faces of the core wasn’t enough, the Oilers will head into Madison Square Garden for a morning matchup against the New York Rangers. The Blueshirts will be well rested up for this one. They will play the Bruins on Wednesday and won’t play again until they see the Oilers. I can only hope that the afternoon game on Sunday against the Red Wings isn’t how the Oilers will handle all of their morning games because the puck drops at 11am MST on this one.

The team will then play their first back-to-back game of the year against Ovechkin and the Capitals on Sunday at 5pm MST.

These games won’t be a cakewalk for the Oilers by any means, not that any games in the NHL should ever be considered a cake walk. I think Connor and the boys are going to have to gear up to ride some very angry bulls on this trip.