Bonus material
Former draft pick Skyler Brind'amour re-ups with Carolina
I always suspected that former Oilers draft pick Skyler Brind'amour would end up in the Carolina organization where his dad coaches, and now it's happened again. His stats were not really impressive last season for Charlotte so I don't know where this is really coming from. Well, whatevs, good luck to him.
Jack Campbell enters player assistance program
A sad story out of Detroit where Jack Campbell signed this past offseason after the Oilers bought him out. Campbell has entered the NHLPA's player assistance program. We'll never know the real reason but Campbell has been plagued with confidence issues throughout his career, so if I had to guess I'd say something stress, anxiety, or confidence related. Even from a bought out player, you never want to see this kind of thing. A good reminder that NHL players are people too.
The last of the training camp cuts
The last cuts of training camp were announced, and some surprising names were on the list. Noah Philp and Drake Cagguila were both in play for fourth line center behind Derek Ryan, but now it looks like Ryan has fought his competition off. Raphael Lavoie was also generating some buzz to get a spot too, but his defensive play was spotty as well, so that explains him. Josh Brown was slated to be the sixth or seventh man on D, but it looks like Emberson and Troy Stetcher will get the regular spots, and I suspect we'll get an announcement anyday now that PTO signee Travis Dermott will be signed to a full fledged contract. He was generating buzz in camp and it looks like he may have beat out Brown for a spot. The only name on the list that wasn't really surprising was goalie Olivier Rodrigue. He needs more seasoning in the minors and was never really a threat to take the spot of Skinner or Pickard, although being one of the last cuts is a bit of a feather in his cap. Nonetheless, I think we all now know who the first callups are going to be if injury or underperformance strikes.