The Edmonton Oilers are into the real work of camp now, and this week’s preseason slate should tell us plenty about where things stand before the Sept. 29 puck drop.
The biggest concern is health. Before camp even opened, the Oilers already knew Matt Savoie, Frederik Andersen, Alec Regula, and Mattias Janmark would not be available.
The timeline picture remains fuzzy, but Stan Bowman said on Sept. 16 that Regula and Janmark are ahead of Savoie and Andersen. “Regula and Janmark are closer to playing just because they’re going to be skating,” Bowman said.
That leaves some uneasy ground, especially with Savoie and Andersen viewed as key pieces.
Then came a couple of scares on Friday’s skate, Sept. 18.
Jason Dickinson appeared to get hurt, slammed his stick against the boards in frustration, and left the ice early before sitting out the scrimmage later that day. The good news is he shouldn’t miss any time.
The other moment had fans holding their breath. During the scrimmage, Connor McDavid was shaken up after Shakir Mukhamadullin drove him into the net.
McDavid was given a penalty shot and buried it, but he also seemed to be favouring his right arm. He didn’t need medical attention, and there doesn’t appear to be any concern in the room.
He backed that up by playing in Edmonton’s preseason opener against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Sept. 19, so the incident doesn’t look serious. Still, it’s one worth monitoring.
On the bench, Mike Babcock is already making his presence felt. He has been hands-on from the start, and during his first practice on Thursday he was loud, direct, and focused on details. That has been a point of emphasis right away for a team that has, at times, lacked that kind of structure.
“What we’re trying to do is send the message on how we want to play. We’ve asked them to learn the details and then find your game within our game.
So if you know the details and everyone’s detailed, everybody on the team can be important. When you’re not detailed enough, no one knows where to go, and only the best guys get to be important.
We’re going to play without the puck, and to play here, you’ve got to be fit. We’re going to play 12 forwards, and everyone’s going to be important.
So you have to have a role, and you have to understand what we expect”, Babcock stated after the first skate on Sept. 17.
That message has been impossible to miss. The Oilers need more structure, and Babcock may be the one tasked with building it. At this point, he may be the most interesting part of the season.
Edmonton’s preseason opener gave an early look at the lineup mix. The Oilers beat a Winnipeg team that was missing its top players, winning 5-2.
Shea, McDavid, Draisaitl, Formenton, and Dach scored for Edmonton. Tristan Jarry stopped 15 of 16 shots over two periods, and Matt Tomkins turned aside 4 of 5 in the third.
The forward group also produced one of the more notable wrinkles: Colton Dach at centre. Edmonton has plenty of competition on the wings in the bottom six, but not much down the middle.
Josh Samanski was the only clear option there, so Dach may get a chance to see if he can handle the role. Whether that becomes something real or just a camp experiment remains to be seen.
As Babcock said earlier this week, the preseason combinations shouldn’t be read too literally because the team is still sorting through talent.
The next game should bring a different look, with veterans like Dickinson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kasperi Kapanen, Trent Frederic, Jake Walman, Mattias Ekholm, and Connor Murphy expected to play. Edmonton should also get its first look at Devon Levi in goal.
With only four preseason games on the schedule, the Oilers wrap things up with three games this week, all against Canadian opponents. The results matter less than the process, and that process is what will be under the microscope as camp rolls on.
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Jets Camp Already Has One Big Tension Around Opening Night
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The club has had to adjust the start times for 12 home games after Manitoba decided to stay on daylight time year-round, a small change on paper that will still affect how the first few weeks of home hockey feel for players and fans. Before that becomes part of the nightly routine, a Prospect Challenge game in Edmonton offers a look at mostly young Jets players, with the game set to be streamed on the teams website. [Read more 🡒]