With Taylor Hall hurt and out for repairs and half the D going MIA, who you gonna call?

Ghost busters wouldn’t be such a bad answer, since this team appears to be haunted by a nasty entity. Taylor Hall will be out hurt for at least 2 weeks. Let’s hope for the best and plan for the worst and say it will really be a month. That’s about 12 to 13 games. With him out, everyone port side gets a bump, a fresh body will draw in and someone from down the farm will have to be ready as a spare part. And this is just on the forward group. If , as expected, Andrew Ference is disciplined for any length of time, there will be a second (and maybe even a third ) ticket at the ready for one lucky Oklahoma defender.

Good teams weather losing their superstars. Tampa Bay made the playoffs last season despite losing Stamkos with a broken leg after a play similar to Hall’s. The injury happened on Nov 11th and he did not return to the lineup until march 6th, effectively missing 45 games, or slightly over half a season. How the Oilers perform with Taylor Hall hurt will be a true test all across the totem pole of the organization. They have proven to be only marginally better with all hands on deck so far.

The two obvious choices for first line duty would be David Perron and Nail Yakupov. Perron is the better fit since he is used to playing both wings. Yakupov is just starting to find his game so it would be a shame for him to hit a wall while playing on his off side. In any case, Joensuu will most likely move up to the top 9, leaving a spot to fill on the JoHenSuu line. Right now Will Acton is with the team so it makes sense that we will see him slotting in with Gordon and Hendricks. After that, there is a real need to bring an extra forward given how long Hall will be unavailable. The good news on this front are that there are quite a few good options down at OKC.

Jason Williams, Iiro Pakarinen, Ryan Hamilton, Andrew Miller, Anton Lander and Steve Pinizzotto are the top recall options based on their scoring numbers so far. I would then add Gazdic to the list. He is in fact the obvious choice, because he will be the full time spare forward, but the guy has 1 goal in two games, and maybe it would be better for him to keep playing after a long absence from games due to his injury last season.

From everyone else in that whole group, I believe only Pakarinen is waiver exempt. His offense has been a revelation so it makes sense to give him the recall on merit, however, if the guy is just going to be sitting in press box and Acton will be the one drawing in, better to leave the Finn where he is on a roll than stamping him against a developmental wall. Re-entry waivers have been eliminated, but if the team wants to send a guy down who is not exempt, he would have to clear the waiver wire. In my opinion, if the team is only looking for a spare part the better choices are guys who would not be missed if taken (and who would probably not be taken anyways). In that mold we find Ryan Hamilton and Jason Williams, both older guys with a ton of mileage who wouldn’t lose any development by sitting with some popcorn. Gazdic would have more time to get up to speed. The other four are all at a point per game or just about, so it would come down to management’s views on their future value with the Oilers. All but Luke have their contracts expiring at the end of the year.

I would personally bring Anton Lander, Steve Pinizzotto or Tyler Pitlick and put him in the lineup instead of Will Acton. At worst they are similar players and if one falters they can switch. At best the recall shows good form and more than keeps his head above water. If either is lost to the waiver wire there are similar replacements in the system and you are putting your best available people on the ice, instead of keeping Acton in and sitting one Hamilton or Williams. I don’t like the idea of bringing Pakarinen under such precarious circumstances. There is already one raw rookie in the lineup, one more eve if he is older hardly makes for a more confident atmosphere.