With training camp set to open and the Edmonton Oilers announcing their roster on Wednesday, I thought we could take a look at the season that lies ahead with the depth chart they have.
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I have remained steadfast in the Connor McDavid era in my thinking that it is head scratching to see any brand new player automatically linked to his line upon procurement. While overblown by some, the issue this forward group has been criticized for many times over is scoring depth, and it always befuddles me that those same critics' answer to this ailment is to put newly acquired scorers on the top line.
Jeff Skinner -- who has wheels -- enters a lineup rife with talent, but lacking speedsters with the exits of Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod. Viktor Arvidsson is also fleet of foot. Neither have the elite speed of McLeod, but both have noses for the net that he and Foegele do not. Both should exceed the former Oilers' offensive totals, health pending.
Both Skinner and Arvidsson have produced away from elite talent on their respective rosters over the course of their careers. While complimentary players to be sure, both can create quite well with their shoot-first mentalities. It's in my humble evaluation, that the optimal look would have these two players split up. They are however skating together with Leon Draisaitl at the captain skates taking place this past week, which top insiders believe you can read into.
Sportsnet's Mark Spector reported last Friday that Evander Kane will indeed undergo surgery to repair a sports hernia suffered this past season. The recovery time from this surgery ranges from 4-12 weeks and any time frame within that makes how to handle Kane's situation tricky. He can go to LTIR which would free up his cap space, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can go shopping as they would need his hit free for when he's eligible to be reactivated.
On Wednesday, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported that Mike Hoffman has now been offered a PTO to come to training camp and alluded to the fact that it's likely to fill out the projected camp roster numbers, after Carl Berglund suffered an injury at rookie camp in Penticton. Therefore, it seems unlikely he would earn a spot in the lineup. There is concerns amongst some close to the team where production can come from in the bottom six. Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now among them, who said as much on Spittin Chiclets on Tuesday, and so it's not that there is no path for him.
With that in mind, we'll start with the forward group. It strikes me as very peculiar that Kevin Shattenkirk and/or Justin Schultz haven't been named to this group of PTO skaters at Edmonton's training camp, which leads me to believe on no good authority, that both players may have declined an invite. The need is clearly at right-shot defence for this group and yet here we starting this exercise with a plethora of forwards to choose from.
The people knocking this forward group who are cheering against them, are in for a rude awakening when their team has to defend it. This unit while not perfect, is the best in the NHL full stop. Any spin zone to the contrary that helps you sleep at night is your own prerogative. Most are operating on the assumption that newly acquired wingers Skinner and Arvidsson will be flanking Draisaitl on the second line this season at least to start, which is logical and leads to the concerns for the bottom 6, naturally. I am not so sold that a) it's a lock those two will play with Draisaitl and b) that the bottom 6 is that bad even if they do.