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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Day Three at Edmonton Oilers camp features fast-paced scrimmage, first roster cuts - Ottawa Citizen

Author of the article:

Bruce McCurdy  •  Edmonton Journal

Publishing date:

Sep 26, 2021  •  13 minutes ago  •  10 minute read  •  Join the conversation
Stuart Skinner, shown here in NHL action last season, was a standout in Saturday's scrimmage.
Stuart Skinner, shown here in NHL action last season, was a standout in Saturday's scrimmage. Photo by Perry Nelson /USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Turris broke a 1-1 tie with an unassisted goal early in the final frame, and Stuart Skinner made it stand up with some excellent netminding down the stretch as Edmonton Oilers Team White nudged Edmonton Oilers Team Blue 3-1 in a high-paced scrimmage at Rogers Place Saturday morning. It was a tense, taut affair that was in doubt until the dying seconds when Jesse Puljujarvi’s empty net goal sealed the deal for Team Whi…

OK, that’s quite enough of that. Like the Oilers, I too am getting ready for when the real games begin. Maybe I should save the flowery prose until then, huh?

We don’t have much longer to wait, depending on how “real” you think preseason games are. Fair to say they will be real enough for a number of players on the bubble; as coach Dave Tippett has emphasized throughout the week, his important decisions will be based far more on what he sees in the preseason contests than any scrimmages, drills or other internal competitions.

First cuts

Some personnel decisions, however, have been made already. First cuts were announced by the club later on Saturday afternoon:

The only mild surprise on that list is Henry Rybinski, an unsigned 2019 fifth round pick of Florida Panthers who had his moments in rookie camp. I had guessed the Oilers might give him at least one preseason game to make his case but it wasn’t to be. The other tryouts were always going to be longshots.

Of the juniors, Tyler Tullio has been officially loaned back to Oshawa Generals, the terminology used for players under contract. The 2020 fifth round pick was fine at rookie camp, and was occasionally noticeable in a “that kid might be a factor in a couple of years” kind of way. Good instincts and some bite to his game, needs to upgrade his strength and his skating — a pretty typical prescription for a teenager cutting his teeth against the men.

Matvey Petrov on the other hand is not so much being “returned” to North Bay as being sent there for the first time, other than a very quick visit a couple of weeks ago on his way to Edmonton. He fell to the Oilers in the sixth round one year after he went first overall to the Battalion in the CHL Import Draft. The cancellation of the 2020-21 OHL campaign kept him in Russia for one last season, but the 18-year-old forward still has two years of major junior eligibility, plenty of time to earn an NHL-class contract.

Another 2021 selection, winger Jake Chiasson, was less fortunate, getting injured in a drill early in rookie camp. He’ll go back to Brandon right away, even as it may be a while before he can suit up for the Wheat Kings.

Saturday scrimmage notes

After sitting out Friday’s first full scrimmage, Edmonton’s top forwards all put in an appearance on Saturday. Other than the odd on-the-fly line change, Tippett and his staff consistently went the power vs. power route, which led to some pretty good battles and not a whole lot of cheating for offence, as the score might suggest.

As was the case Friday, Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen played the first half of the 40-minute, stop-time contest, and for the second day sawed it off 1-1. Koskinen in particular looked sharp. They gave way in the second to Skinner and Olivier Rodrigue, both of whom played well. Skinner made a number of fine saves and had luck on his side a time or two, a pretty standard recipe for success between the pipes.

What follows are notes on some, not all, of the 39 skaters who saw action on Saturday. With twelve (would-be) Oilers on the ice at any given moment it was impossible to focus on all of them. Just more glimpses here and there, presented here alphabetically:

D-man Filip Berglund has been quietly effective throughout, an observation by many reporters that was also shared by Tippett in Saturday’s wind-up avail.  Good positionally, he makes problems disappear more with a whimper than a bang. Decent puckmover, though not a highly creative one.

LW Tyler Benson had another solid showing on both sides of the puck. He tested Skinner with a high wrist shot from a 2-on-1 but his old WHL rival had the answer.

It was d-man Philip Broberg‘s giveaway on a dreadful cross-ice pass that Turris picked off for the deciding goal. Broberg has been generally underwhelming to these eyes throughout both camps, even as his size, speed and skill is readily in evidence. Not many moments where he has imposed his will on the action. He’s surely destined for Bakersfield to acclimate to the North American game away from the bright lights of the NHL, at least for a while; first, though, he’ll get his chances in preseason.

C/LW/RW Leon Draisaitl remains amazing to watch live, just a powerhouse of a hockey player. On one rink-length-and-then-some carry, he blew past a forechecking Puljujarvi, then picked his way up the right wing boards, around the net, and back down the left wing boards to the hash marks as he waited for the lane to develop; when it did, he flicked a perfect backhand feed to tee up Nurse for a one-timer from the slot. Four different opponents had a go at stopping the Big Diesel; none succeeded. Later he set up Yamamoto’s opening goal with another backhand pass from beneath the goal line. In the late going and his goalie on the bench, Leon sifted one outside shot through traffic that forced both a tough save and a rebound; then he wired a one-time blast from about two feet above the goal line that barely missed the far post before it crashed into the corner boards. Unstoppable if it was on the net, but it missed by a hair. (This time.)

LW Warren Foegele had his best day of the three so far, bringing speed and physicality to an impressive third line. No luck around the net, including a penalty shot that Skinner thwarted. He had something of a running feud with Koekkoek whose high stick led to the free shot,. Foegele could clearly be heard telling the d-man to “back off” after a second dose of lumber during a later Foegele rush.

C Matteo Gennaro is a feel-good story with a local angle. The St. Albert native was signed to a minor-league deal by Bakersfield after a strong campaign with the Oilers ECHL affiliate in Wichita. The 24-year-old was very noticeable in Saturday’s scrimmage, firing three hard shots on target from the slot, even as none of them solved Koskinen or Rodrigue.

LW Zach Hyman‘s best sequence came when he beat RNH with a good move in his own end of the rink, fed a lead pass to a breaking Cody Ceci, then joined the rush as a trailer where he nearly cashed a second rebound. Meat-and-potatoes winger consistently strong on the puck.

RW Zack Kassian continued to show well, bringing his aggressive forechecking game, contained for the circumstances but still effective. I loved one sequence where both he and Foegele consecutively crunched both opposing d-men in rapid succession along the end wall, shaking the puck free for Ryan. Hope to see more of that in Calgary Sunday night.

D Slater Koekkoek had a strong showing to these old eyes, imposing himself on the action in well-chosen moments. The take-charge attitude may be fueled in part by his pairing with young Bouchard, who is less experienced and less physical. Koekkoek’s running battle with Foegele was highly entertaining.

D William Lagesson shocked everyone in the building, likely even himself, with a terrific backhand pass across the goalmouth that Colton Sceviour tapped home. This miracle alone makes it worth visiting the 4-minute highlight package at the bottom of this post. Joking aside, it’s essential that Lagesson rediscover some fraction of the offence he’s shown in the AHL and HockeyAllsvenskan if he has designs on making the next step.

Winger Raphael Lavoie marked his 21st birthday on Saturday. He has not been placed on a featured line and is a lock to wind up on Bakersfield, but he’s been noticeable, barging around the offensive zone with authority. He showed off his trademark shot on one occasion when he first whiffed from the high slot, then simply backed up about five feet and let fly a low rocket that forced a good pad stop by Koskinen. No wind-up, just boom, hard and on target.

Forward Brad Malone made a gorgeous slot pass to Lagesson on the Sceviour goal, another example of the high skill level of guys whose NHL days are likely behind them but who remain excellent AHLers. Let’s include in this group Adam Cracknell and Seth Griffith, who combined on a beauty in Friday’s scrimmage. Tireless grinder Luke Esposito is another. Developing forwards in Bakersfield will have no shortage of strong mentorship.

It was another day at the office for Connor McDavid who plays and processes the game at a faster rate than anyone. Matched up against Draisaitl he was paying attention to his defensive fundamentals and playing strong positional hockey. On one occasion he burst into cheat-code mode with a thrilling end-to-end rush that could have resulted in a pile-up in the blue paint but didn’t. He played a more contained game after that.

C Ryan McLeod is yet another big, fast guy in a camp that has quite a few of those. He’s strong in the neutral zone both with and without the puck, and chooses good routes. The scoring may take a while to come, but there are other ways he can help in the meantime.

LW Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is looking just fine on the reunited DYNamite Line. He’s always been good in combination with other high-skilled linemates, a quick thinker and unselfish passer. He fired one high drive from the slot that Skinner appeared to stop with the shaft of his goal stick.

D Darnell Nurse was less noticeable than Friday’s first full scrimmage, but showed himself on one sequence where he jumped into the rush, carried the puck with speed through the neutral zone, dished it off at the line and carried on into the slot. The play went the other way but guess who came all the way back to break up the dangerous-looking rush before it crossed the blueline? Yeah, him.

D Kris Russell didn’t participate in the scrimmage, but was part and parcel of the practice session that preceded it. No contact yet, but he’ll be ready in plenty of time for the season.

C Derek Ryan is in a good spot: a quick, smart pivot between a pair of crashing wingers. There already appears to be good chemistry among the trio, potentially a massive upgrade on Edmonton’s ever-problematic third line. Ryan rang the iron twice with good wrist shots. Despite being 12 years older, he’s also something of a long-term mentor of Yamamoto, a connection both natives of Spokane, WA mentioned in their separate media avails after the session. A right-hand shot who is handy on the faceoff dot, Ryan fully understands his supporting role on the bottom six.

RW Kyle Turris had a good showing. Not only did he snipe the deciding goal on a good wrist shot from the slot, he also made a splendid stretch pass to Brendan Perlini for a partial breakaway, and another aggressive head-man pass that triggered a chance.

RW Kailer Yamamoto followed up Friday’s two-goal showing with another tally, this a quick release from the slot that clashed off Zach Hyman‘s defensive stick and found a hole in Smith. He was in buzzsaw mode, all over the puck a few times, getting in his opponent’s face or at least his chest. In his avail, Yamamoto confirmed that he spent much of the summer working on his shot, a development which pleases this observer as regular listeners of the Cult of Hockey podcast can attest. (A repeated suggestion involving tennis balls and a garage door.) His dad set it up, and Kailer spent the summer firing hundreds of shots per day. Worked on velocity, accuracy, quick release, etc. So far, so good.

Scrimmage highlights

Coming up

In the media avail, Tippett let it be known that Skinner and Konovalov will share the pipes for Sunday’s preseason, and that neither McDavid nor Draisaitl (nor, presumably, their lines) are likely to make the trip. Likely means Derek Ryan making his triumphant return to Calgary as Edmonton’s 1C.

With the club now entering preseason proper, we at the Cult of Hockey will also return to game mode. Our in-house coverage of training camp ends here, with thanks to the Oilers for granting access over these past three days.

Recently at the Cult of Hockey

McCURDY: Day 2 — The battle is on for wingers on the bubble

McCURDY: Day 1 — It’s Plan A up front for Oilers as camp begins

LEAVINS: Oilers off-season makeover made up with an analytics brush

STAPLES: The Josh Archibald COVID conundrum

Follow me on Twitter @BruceMcCurdy

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