Today is the day that most of us have been waiting for all summer, the Edmonton Oilers are finally back on the ice with some of their NHL roster.
When it some to NHL pre-season you need to take everything with a grain of salt, especially on the positive side of things. Remember last season when Brandon Perlini scored at will in the pre-season, but didn’t accomplish much in the regular season.
If a player has success you need to realize that in the pre-season you are playing against non-NHL players and likely a non-NHL goalie as well. This is even more likely in the early games of the pre-season. The later in the pre-season as the teams narrow in on their full time roster is when you can gauge a player better.
Edmonton Oilers Vs. Winnipeg Jets
Today the Edmonton Oilers open their pre-season at home against the Winnipeg Jets. As I mentioned above this game really doesn’t mean anything for either of these two team, but it will be a chance to play against another NHL team and not just an inter squad game.
The Winnipeg Jets aren’t sending very many NHL regulars to play in the game against the Edmonton Oilers. Here is the roster they are sending.
Forwards – Saku Maenalanen, Jansen Harkins, David Gustafsson, Dominic Toninato, Mason Appleton, Mikey Eyssimont, Kevin Stenlund, Jeff Malott, Chaz Lucius, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kristian Reichel, Cole Perfetti.
Defence – Dylan DeMelo, Ashton Sautner, Declan Chisholm, Logan Stanley, Johnathan Kovacevic, Leon Gawanke, Kyle Capobianco.
Goaltenders – David Rittich, Arvid Holm
Most teams don’t send their bigger named players on the road during the pre-season and looks like the Jets are doing that today. There is only a couple players on this roster that can make a difference if this was a regular season game.
At the time of writing this article there isn’t a 100% accurate reading on which Edmonton Oilers are playing today, but it appears that there won’t be very many big names for them either. According to the tweet below from Reid Wilkins, looks like we won’t be see any big names.
Bouchard and Kulak not skating so likely to play.
— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) September 25, 2022
There is still a couple of players I look forward to watching tonight. I am looking to seeing if Puljujarvi and Foegele come in with a fire under them this season. Both of them have been tied to trade rumours all off-season. Let see if Holland made the right choice buy keeping them.
I also look forward to seeing how Murray and the two players on PTO’s play. Murray is likely to end up as the #7 dman, but if he plays good enough there is always the chance that he makes the top 6.
As for Virtanen and Demers they need to steal a spot, likely from the 3 players i have listed above. Virtanen could take Puljujarvi or Foegele’s job if he plays good enough. If he steals their spot it makes trading them away hurt less. For Demers he is looking to push Murray down to Bakersfield and take the #7 spot for himself.
How To Watch?
You can watch this game on EdmontonOilers.com today at 4PM MST. It will be a stream, so don’t expect the best quality of video or instant-replays, but it is still Edmonton Oilers hockey in September and we can’t be picky.