2 weeks Ago
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The pieces are starting to come together for the Edmonton Oilers, although there are still a few missing. Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Jake Walman were sidelined with injuries to close out the regular season, and all of them took part in a full practice Friday ahead of a Saturday optional session.
That bodes well for appearances in Game 1 against the Los Angeles Kings. Advertisement The statuses of Troy Stecher, Evander Kane and Trent Frederic appear less positive or at least uncertain. Stecher isn’t with the team, whereas Kane and Frederic took the ice Friday but weren’t on regular lines as the Oilers prepare for the playoffs.
Of course, stalwart defenceman Mattias Ekholm has been ruled out for the first round. Depth blueliner John Klingberg has been a practice regular and will come off long-term injured reserve ahead of Game 1. As captain Connor McDavid suggested earlier this week, the situation is rosier than it once appeared.
Still, questions exist — certainly more than last year. “Are we better? Are we worse? You’ll find out,” Hyman said. “That’s the beauty of the playoffs.
You find out pretty quick. There’s no time to figure it out. You’re thrown right in it.
” That’ll happen Monday when the series commences. Health concerns, even if they’re slowly fading, aren’t the only things to ponder with this team. Not by a long shot.
With health as the undercurrent, here are five pressing questions about the Oilers as they enter Take Four against the Kings. 1. Can Kane and Frederic make a difference in this series? Having Kane and Frederic near or at 100 percent could change the complexion of the Oilers’ forward ranks.
They both play an in-your-face style that’s perfectly suited for the postseason. Kane has excelled there, especially offensively in his first go with the team in 2022 when he was healthy and motivated. It’s hard to bank on them right now.
Kane has been out all season after having abdominal and knee surgeries in September and January, respectively. He’s 33 and hasn’t played since Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last June. A 10-month layoff is a lot of rust to shake off.
Kane was on a line with black aces Derek Ryan and Max Jones on Friday, so he’s not quite in the picture yet. He didn’t take part in Saturday’s optional skate. Coach Kris Knoblauch said he’s close to being medically cleared and is “very close for Game 1.
” Advertisement Frederic was acquired on March 4 from the Boston Bruins to provide an element of physicality that the Oilers were missing. He had an ankle injury before his arrival, but Oilers management banked on him being ready before the playoffs and paid a second-round pick and two prospects to get his cap hit down to 25 percent. Frederic played just 7:10 in his Oilers debut on April 5 before he was shelved again.
Frederic skated before Friday’s practice and displayed some speed bursts but seemed tentative when stopping. He wore a blue jersey for bottom-six forwards and didn’t take part in line rushes. He took part in Saturday’s optional.
“I think it feels great,” Frederic said. “I’ve done a lot of things to test it.” Frederic thinks playing in Game 1 is a real possibility.
But his effectiveness, if he does suit up, is no sure thing. “There’s the unknown,” Knoblauch said. “Trent’s a blue-collar, hardworking guy who’ll play through a lot.
If it isn’t 100 percent, I think he could still play through it. But you never know what’ll happen after shift three or four.” Having those players in the lineup should make the Oilers more effective and battle-hardened.
They would upgrade the mix. Will they be useful in this series? 2. Assuming Skinner starts in net, can he be good enough? There was plenty of doubt cast on Stuart Skinner’s No.
1 job late in the season. Skinner had an inconsistent campaign before missing seven games with a concussion, and Calvin Pickard was solid during that time. Knoblauch didn’t exactly throw his unbridled support behind him before his return to the lineup, either.
Skinner closed the campaign with two excellent starts, albeit against the scaled-back Winnipeg Jets and the lowly San Jose Sharks, as he stopped 35 of 36 shots in all. It’s believed he’s done enough to lead the Oilers onto the ice on Monday, though Knoblauch wouldn’t name a starter and said he anticipates using both goalies in the playoffs. Advertisement Now, the spotlight turns squarely on Skinner.
If there’s one area where the Kings have a decisive advantage, it’s in net. Darcy Kuemper might be a Vezina Trophy finalist, whereas Skinner recorded a .896 save percentage and won just 26 of 50 games in which he started.
It makes sense that he posted a quality start in exactly half of his attempts, per Hockey Reference. Skinner won’t need to win the Oilers the series, though a couple of performances like the 33-save shutout he had in Game 4 against the Kings last year wouldn’t hurt. He likely doesn’t even need to be great; good goaltending is probably the requirement here.
It’s up to Skinner to deliver it. Can he do it? 3. How will the defence manage without Ekholm? The loss of Ekholm hurts.
Just ask McDavid . This is an all-situations player who’s been so impactful since he was acquired from Nashville in February 2023. And now he’s out of the picture, which leaves a huge hole, at least in the depth chart.
“He brings a lot to our group,” Darnell Nurse said. “Our group also has a lot of guys that, given more opportunity, can make the most of it. “Our D group is really confident that we can play at a really high level.
” “It’s fun trying to prove people wrong,” Walman said. “This team knows what it takes.” The good news is the Oilers obtained Walman before the trade deadline from San Jose to give the blue line more of a boost.
The bad news is he missed the last five games with an injury and appeared to be skating gingerly before and during Friday’s practice. He was on the ice again Saturday. Walman said his ailment is “nothing to worry about.
” The Oilers had better hope that’s the case because he’ll have to take on a more increased role than expected before the trade if he’s in. “I don’t think anybody’s hanging their head or anything,” Walman said. “It’s full speed ahead.
Whoever is ready to go is going to play. Advertisement “It’ll just be more intense.” Count on everyone in the top four getting a bump in ice time without Ekholm in the lineup.
Nurse, back from a one-game suspension for his cross-check on the Kings’ Quinton Byfield last Monday, skated with Evan Bouchard on Friday. Walman was paired on the right side with Brett Kulak. “He’s a really good player and easy to play with,” Kulak said.
“You know what you’re going to get from him. He skates well. He moves the puck really good.
I think it’ll be a pretty smooth transition if that’s what we look like to start.” Those pairings could be fluid, considering Nurse and Bouchard played just 116 minutes together at five-on-five during the regular season, per Natural Stat Trick. Kulak and Walman had 11:50 of ice time together following Walman’s arrival.
By comparison, Nurse and Walman played 106 minutes together over 15 games and Kulak and Bouchard got 202 minutes as a duo. The Walman-Bouchard and Nurse-Kulak pairings have been more common. Nurse and Kulak have also played more with their regular partners, Stecher and Ty Emberson.
“The amount of games that each of us have played with a different partner when (in-game) situations arise where guys are hurt or not available for us, it seems pretty easy to fall in and play with another guy,” Nurse said. “It’s just kind of rolling business as usual for what we’ve been doing the last month, six weeks,” Kulak said. “It definitely helps that we’ve seen every look.
” There still might be a few kinks to work out. Knoblauch said he and this staff are debating how much time Kulak should get in the top four. The more he’s there, the more top-heavy the depth chart will be.
Emberson, who signed a two-year, $1.3 million AAV deal on Saturday, is the No. 5 blueliner right now.
He could get some elevated shifts and penalty-kill duty, though. He did drills with Josh Brown on Friday. Advertisement Klingberg is an option for Game 1 after sustaining an infection following the March 27 game in Seattle.
That was after his return from a foot injury, which he sustained blocking a shot on March 4, just his 10th game as an Oiler following a nearly 15-month absence from a double hip resurfacing procedure. “This is the best I’ve felt even in the hips, too,” he said. “I’m going to be ready to go if they play me.
“If I play, I’m going to prove that I still belong. I take big pride that when playoff starts, I usually raise my game a lot.” Stecher skated Saturday in Edmonton, Knoblauch said, and could be an option later in the series.
The equation could change if he or Klingberg gets into the mix. “We have to decide how to run our D pairs based on righties and lefties, seeing who gives us the best group that we need,” Knoblauch said. “We haven’t committed to who those D are.
” But we know Ekholm isn’t altering anything. “You can’t replace him,” Kulak said, “but it’s going to take a little more from everybody.” Can the Oilers get by without him? 4.
Will Jeff Skinner have a useful role? Skinner’s first three months of the season were a major disappointment, but he started turning things around after he was scratched before the new year. Over his last 37 games, the Oilers outscored opponents 21-10 at five-on-five with Skinner on the ice despite him averaging 11:08, per Natural Stat Trick. He also recorded 2.
04 points per 60 minutes in that state during that span, third on the team behind McDavid and Draisaitl. “I wouldn’t say it was up and down,” Knoblauch said of Skinner’s season. “I think it was down and then just continued to rise up.
He’s doing well. Throughout the playoffs, I hope it continues to rise.” It seemed like the coaching staff found something when Skinner was matched with McDavid and Connor Brown late in the season.
They outscored opponents 4-0 and had a 71 expected goals percentage at five-on-five in 51 minutes together, per NST. Advertisement That grouping isn’t expected to start the playoffs, at least based on how things looked at Friday’s practice. Hyman took Skinner’s spot at left wing.
“Any line centred by 97 has success,” Knoblauch said. “We have to be aware of the best matchup. They have last change.
That’s definitely something we have to be considerate of. Maybe we can expose (them) in another area.” Skinner was on the third line to the right side with Adam Henrique and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
That’s still a formidable trio, but there are some issues. For one thing, there isn’t a strong forechecking member there. For another, Skinner hasn’t played right wing all season.
All season, Skinner has been used in a prominent role, mostly as a last resort — either to shake up the mix or because of injuries. When Kane and Frederic return, will Skinner even be in the lineup? 5. Can the Oilers find the right combinations up front? Whether practice lines make it into Game 1 or not, bet on things changing quite a bit throughout the series.
“We definitely have uncertainty with our lines,” Knoblauch said. “There will be a lot of evaluating right at the start of the game.” That’s largely been Knoblauch’s MO this season, some of that by necessity lately because of all the forwards coming out of the lineup over the last month.
“We haven’t had consistent line combinations,” Hyman said. “Everybody’s played with everybody, whether we’ve been healthy or whether we’ve had injuries.” Of the top three lines from Friday’s practice, only one of them was a regular trio during the regular season: Draisaitl centring Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson.
Those were the potential league MVP’s two most common wingers. That revamped McDavid line has a total of 5:45 together this season, per NST, whereas Skinner’s new trio has just 1:28. Talk about potentially starting from square one.
McDavid, Hyman and Draisaitl have all missed time in the leadup to the playoffs. Advertisement That’s not even factoring in possible returns of Kane and Frederic. Kane has familiarity with some of the forwards, including all the stars, but he hasn’t shared the ice in a game with four of the players slated to play in Game 1 based on Friday’s practice.
Frederic, for all intents and purposes, is new to the team. There could be a lot of trial by fire even if the Oilers believe they’re prepared for it. “I’ve played up and down the lineup.
I’ve played with almost everybody,” Hyman said. “A lot of guys have had a similar experience.” Can the Oilers forwards find the right chemistry? (Photo of Ty Emberson, Anze Kopitar and Stuart Skinner: Perry Nelson / Imagn Images).
