Wounded

• C Drake Caggiula. Listed as week-to-week with a hip problem three
  weeks ago, Caggiula was the club’s third-line centre for much of training camp.
  His return could plausibly mean an assignment in that role (with Leon Draisaitl
  moving to right wing) or a fourth-line job, but it’s worth remembering that even
  though he’s 22 he’s also a rookie pro. Bakersfield is also an option.  
• LD Brandon Davidson. Davidson has what is being described as
  an upper body injury. The original timeline was “a while” back when he got hurt
  in mid-October, so like a lot of players on this list it’s hard to know when he’ll
  return exactly. He started the year playing right defence on the third pair and
  there’s a very good chance if he was healthy that he’d be getting a look in a
  second pairing role.
• RD Mark Fayne. He’s hurt. We don’t what the problem is and
  we don’t have a timeline; what we do know is that he’s on injured reserve.
  Fayne’s a plausible fit on either the second or third pairing, but clearly isn’t
  a favourite of Todd McLellan or the new management group which inherited him
  from the previous one. It would be a mistake to totally discount the
  possibility that he ends up in the AHL.
• LD Andrew Ference. He’s retired in everything but name, and
  isn’t expected to return from the hip problem that landed him on LTIR.
• LW Matt Hendricks. There’s very little information available
  on Hendricks; we know he has a lower body injury and that he was going to miss weeks
  (we’re in week four at the moment) but beyond that not much. He started the
  year in ink as the fourth-line left wing and running mate to Mark Letestu in a
  defensive specialist role and has been replaced on the roster by Anton Lander.
• RW Zack Kassian. Another lower-body injury, and again there’s
  precious little information available. He last played on Saturday. He’s spent
  most of the season as a middle-six winger, with Bakersfield’s Taylor Beck being
  called up to take his slot on the roster.
• RW Iiro Pakarinen. Pakarinen has a knee injury, and the
  original timeline took him until early November, so presumably he could be back
  any day now. He won a full-time job with Edmonton last season in a jack of all
  trades role and entered the year as a strong candidate for a No. 12/13 forward
  role. Tyler Pitlick was the beneficiary of his injury.
• LD Kris Russell. Russell’s lower body injury is not believed
  to be serious. He’s on injured reserve but could be back in a couple of days.
  He started the year playing on his off-side on the Oilers’ second pairing. His
  effectiveness is hotly debated and thus a kettle of fish we don’t have time to
  get into here; suffice to say it’s likely that he’s back on the second pair
  when he returns.  

Decisions

• Left Wing: Milan Lucic, Benoit Pouliot, Patrick Maroon,
  Anton Lander, Anton Slepyshev, Matt
  Hendricks
• Centre: Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl,
  Mark Letestu, Drake Caggiula
• Right Wing: Jordan Eberle, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyler Pitlick,
  Taylor Beck, Zack Kassian, Iiro Pakarinen
• Left Defence: Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera, Darnell Nurse, Kris Russell, Brandon Davidson
• Right Defence: Adam Larsson, Eric Gryba, Matt Benning, Mark Fayne
• Goal: Cam Talbot, Jonas Gustavsson

GET READY TO SAY BOOYAH