Edmonton Oilers training camp preview 2024-25
With training camp about to open for the Edmonton Oilers, we take a look at their depth chart and invitees ahead of the coming regular season.
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.
Happy Campers! 😁 (2/2) pic.twitter.com/ufd22p9RFB
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 18, 2024
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.
Left wing
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane (IR), Mattias Janmark, Vasily Podkolzin, Mike Hoffman (PTO), Roby Jarventie (recall option)
Injuries have hit this group early and beyond Berglund the recall options are weak, but at the top and especially when Kane returns this is a formidable group. Questions remain for Vasily Podkolzin in his relatively young career. In 19 games last season he tallied a mere two assists. Whether or not he can be an adequate replacement for Dylan Holloway remains to be seen. The battle at camp between him and Mike Hoffman will be interesting, as they'll push each other for the last remaining starting left wing spot.
Right wing
Zach Hyman, Victor Arvidsson, Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Matt Savoie (recall option), Raphael Lavoie (C/RW, recall option), Matvei Petrov (recall option)
After Zach Hyman and Arvidsson there is a significant drop off with this group, and that is no slight to one of my favorite players in Connor Brown. If he can rekindle the magic from his stellar playoff run, then this group will be a strength through three lines health pending. I do believe that he can as well and that the trio of himself, Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark can pick up where they left off as one of the more effective third lines in hockey,. In practice however, we can't evaluate that as a certainty and that gives this group for Edmonton a mere passing letter grade.
Centre
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Adam Henrique, Derek Ryan,
James Hamblin (recall option), Jayden Grubbe (recall option), Carl Berglund (IR, recall option)
Centre is a massive strength of this team and to be clear, the above names are far from the only natural centremen which I will unpack with more detail later. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Savoie, Raphael Lavoie and Janmark, are all natural centers as well with varying degrees of effectiveness. But to be led by McDavid and Draisaitl down the middle would give any team at least one of the best centre groups in the NHL. With Nugent-Hopkins playing the wing, I think this depth chart 1 through 4 is not the best in the game, but it is certainly up there and is not something they need to consider upgrading on, at least for now.
Left defence
Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Brett Kulak, Travis Dermott (PTO), Ben Gleason (recall option), Markus Niemelainen (recall option),
People will clown me for saying this about Darnell Nurse, but whether you like it or not he's a very good top four defenceman. If he could find a way to simplify his game and cut down the recurrent mistakes we see in it, I really believe the cannon fodder surrounding his contract would go away. The guy eats some of the more difficult minutes in the league and doesn't get credit for the things he does do well, and if Philip Broberg was placed into Nurse's role I think we'd see a bigger hole in the lineup than most might think.
That said, there is no doubt Nurse is in need of improvements in his d-zone coverage, which I have harped on countless times and won't do so again here. However, the overarching point is that your three defenceman down the left side being Ekholm, Nurse and Brett Kulak is stellar, trolls be darned.
Right defence
Evan Bouchard, Troy Stetcher, Ty Emberson, Josh Brown, Phil Kemp (recall option), Max Wanner (recall option)
This is where things get incredibly dicey for the Edmonton Oilers and doesn't inspire a ton of confidence in their pursuit of a Stanley Cup. I think Troy Stetcher is a helluva hockey player with a compete level as good as any. I also have a hunch that Ty Emberson could be a very good player in the making based off of his very impressive analytics from last season, playing on a very unimpressive San Jose Sharks team.
The problem is that running one of these two with Nurse on your second pair (likely to be Stetcher) just doesn't scream Stanley Cup contender defence, as crude as that sounds. When comparing to other teams in the league who have the same aspirations, this group seems orders of magnitude less talented then say New Jersey or Las Vegas.
Can the Oilers afford to run the experiment with the aforementioned Stetcher and Emberson until the deadline is the big question right now and the answer is, probably, yes. I don't think it's bad enough that it will derail their hopes of getting above the playoff line. Is it good enough to win a Stanley Cup? Probably not.
Goalies
Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard, Olivier Rodrigue (recall option)
There is no intrigue at this position other than, can Calvin Pickard play 30 games and insure the Oilers win most of them? I think he can and by all accounts he's one of the most liked players in the dressing room, which makes you think the guys want to play hard for him. I also would like to see Olivier Rodrigue get some NHL action this year to see what he can do, but that's unlikely to happen until the end of the year.
Bottom Line
There's no getting around the fact this team is built to be an offensive juggernaut rather than a stingy defensive bunch. If it were my lineup card, I would try to spread the wealth of the talent around it. This would include exploring the option of moving Nugent-Hopkins back to centre and running Kane when he returns, with McDavid and Hyman, with Skinner behind him on Draisaitl's line. This would effectively push Henrique down to the fourth line, giving him easier minutes to produce within and making him more effective.
It seems unlikely that will happen though and that the first three lines will be just as they were in the Stanley Cup Final. A fourth line of, Derek Ryan flanked by Corey Perry and Podkolzin or Hoffman is not great. And I still scratch my head at times wondering why they retained Perry over re-signing Holloway, but what's done is done.
The intrigue for the forward group is, can Savoie play well enough in the AHL to force a recall and make an impact at the NHL level? That would be music for the Oilers coaching staff and fan base. Lavoie should also get a fair crack to make the team as he has a ton of offensive talent, mainly with his shooting ability.
At defence, can Max Wanner make a jump this year and push for a spot? It's doubtful, but this man remains my favorite Oiler to speculate upon. Not only do I love the player, he plays the most critical position the Oilers roster is in need of. He has an excellent opportunity in front of him and I cannot wait to see him in pre-season action. He will be given the chance to play, because Kris Knoblauch and management quite literally don't have a choice.
Next. Brad Holland leaves and ends Holland connection in Edmonton. Brad Holland leaves and ends Holland connection in Edmonton. dark
Ultimately, this team will be looking for help at the deadline once again for help on the blue line. Rasmus Andersson is likely to become available, but whether Craig Conroy is willing to help his provincial rival, will be the question? And what other right-handed defencemen are out there that can be an upgrade for this group? Looking at PuckPedia, the number of RD upcoming UFA's is very small.
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