Ken Holland pulled the trigger on another free agent acquisition Saturday, bringing in Slater Koekkoek to add more depth and balance to the blue. Holland’s aggressive procurement (Tyson Barrie, Dominik Kahun, Kyle Turris, Tyler Ennis, Koekkoek and the re-signing of Jesse Puljujarvi) gives the roster that new car feel. Oilers fans can’t wait for the first test drive, now just two weeks away.
THE ATHLETIC!
I’m proud to be writing for The Athletic, and pleased to be part of a great team with Daniel Nugent-Bowman and Jonathan Willis. Here is our recent work.
- New Lowetide: Oilers’ signing of Slater Koekkoek could be about more than depth
- Lowetide: Why fans should expect an Oilers playoff berth in Canadian division
- Jonathan Willis: Dave Tippett has more options now thanks to versatile Oilers forwards
- Lowetide: 7 big questions facing the Oilers heading into next season
- Lowetide: Danger, heartbreak ahead for Oilers, Ethan Bear in contract situation
- Lowetide: Tyler Tullio is the latest Oilers draft pick to make an impression
- Lowetide: What if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins doesn’t sign with the Oilers?
- Jonathan Willis: Left-side logjam will force the Oilers to make a choice, and perhaps a sacrifice
- Lowetide: Ken Holland’s 2020 Oilers offseason report card
- Lowetide: Theodor Lennstrom is the Oilers’ latest European bet on defence
- Lowetide: Why Anton Forsberg could win the Oilers’ backup job in 2020-21
- Lowetide: The 2020-21 Oilers finally deploying elite talent in the right places
- Jonathan Willis: Team Draft vs. Team Trade: Which collection of all-time Oilers is better?
- Lowetide: Seattle Kraken expansion mock draft 5.0: Who could the Oilers lose?
- Lowetide: Why McDavid and Nuge together could be key to Oilers’ playoff success
- Lowetide: Projected training camp roster for the 2020-21 Oilers.
- Jonathan Willis: Will the Oilers repeat their power play magic in 2021?
- Lowetide: How many ‘peak seasons’ can Oilers fans expect from Connor McDavid?
- Lowetide: Oilers Top 20 prospects, post-draft edition.
OILERS 50-MAN ROSTER (48)
Oilers are at 46, but Ethan Bear has to be signed and Philip Broberg will slide (or not) in the fall. I would not be at all surprised to see a forward dealt in the coming days, be it Alex Chiasson, Jujhar Khaira or other.
I’d say the Oilers are a solid backup goalie away from that balance photo.
WORLD JUNIORS
Philip Broberg had a huge game, 0-3-3 and looked dominant against the Czechs. Over seven minutes in each of the first two periods and then they backed him off for the third (17:57). He had three shots on goal and was dangerous all afternoon. Fantastic skater.
Dylan Holloway picked up an assist in the Canadian blowout of the Germans. Won three of six on the dot, two shots, a couple of good looks. Played 15:55 which led Canadian forwards in time on ice.
A moment to talk about overreacting to a single game. Broberg looked so good there’s a part of every Oilers fan wondering if Ken Holland changed his mind yesterday and will bring Broberg to camp. No. As we talked about yesterday, Broberg is establishing himself as a feature player (top-4 defense) in the world’s third best league (SHL). That’s a mountain for a teenager. Broberg is not NHL ready. What yesterday showcased is what he could be when he’s established in the NHL. It’s a very compelling future.
COO COO C’JOOB Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know….woah woah woah
Is there anything new to report regarding the Holloway injury? All I heard was “lower body injury” reported earlier today. Obviously, hope it’s minor (precautionary?) and he’s available to play soon. Without risking his future health, it’s always more fun to watch, when we have some skin in the game… watching Broburg, has been extremely enjoyable, his future looks bright, so far (miles to go).
He took part in the pre-game skate, that’s usually a good sign.
I believe it was “upper body injury”, no?
I posted a clip of him taking a solid headshot but its just pure speculation that it might be related.
Wow, more weak goals on Askarov – Russia’s two primary players have been poor through this tournament. One of them would be best served to make hay on this PP – he doesn’t have the TOI excuse he does for his poor offence in the KHL.
Nope, no hay made by the Russian captain unless giving the puck away for possession losses and clears on back to back powerplays is making hay.
Losing to the Czech’s isn’t a good look. Canucks blog was worried about Podkolzin’s lack of production even before this game.
https://thecanuckway.com/2020/12/26/canucks-podkolzin-pointless-through-2-games-at-wjc/
But as they note:
Sounds like he’s got his work cut out to keep pace with Holloway among ‘defensively responsible power forward’ prospects.
He does seem to be very hard worked and effective on the PK but i expected him to be a dominant offensive force in this tournament. He hasn’t just not been dominant but he’s been highly ineffective, giving pucks away, losing battles, etc.
A bit surprised no mention of Mark Letestu officially retiring today.
A local boy (kind of) and a good Oiler soldier for a couple of years that carved out a surprising niche on the PP as the right shot one-time option for a season
Certainly was an excellent year for the Oilers P.P. & Letestu.
He was an easy guy to cheer for, humble & genuine
Not sure why but my post about the Tampa / Sens trade is caught in mediation.
News Release: The #Sens have acquired defenceman Braydon Coburn, forward Cedric Paquette and a second-round draft pick in 2022 from
@TBLightning in exchange for Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson:
PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) Tweeted:
Trade: #Sens trade Gaborik ($4.875M – LTIR) & Nilsson ($2.6M) to #Lightning for Coburn ($1.7M), Paquette ($1.65M), ’22 2nd.
Net Cap +$4.125M for TB, but Gaborik to LTIR & assume 1 G to taxi (saves $1.075M), net impact is $1.825M Cap Benefit for TB
https://t.co/UXlBFWsjNF
https://twitter.com/PuckPedia/status/1343364437961363456?s=20
So Ottawa gets back a second round pick to replace the one they used earlier.
Elliotte Friedman
@FriedgeHNIC
·
4m
In their media release, the
@TBLightning
announce Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson will not play this season. Both on LTIR, which will allow TB to be cap compliant
Interesting. The Sens are taking on extra cap (when you factor in the LTIR relief TB is getting) but saving real money in the process.
They could have gotten far better players by spending real dollars to match that cap space, but I guess that wasn’t in the cards…
Looks pretty disappointing from Ottawa’s perspective but probably makes the owner happy.
I don’t know…Ottawa picked up three veteran players today for basically peanuts and they can likely flip them all for draft picks at the deadline.
Yeah, I just thought they would do better.
Still playing the long game I suspect.
They have their stud #1D in Chabot.
Jake Sanderson, Lassi Thomson, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Erik Branstrom all project as top 4 D
Stutzle may be their #1C although I expect they’ll start him on the wing. But they also have Josh Norris, Logan Brown, Shane Pinto and Ridly Grieg coming at C and, of course Stepan and Paquette cover for them while those prospects mature.
Brady Tkachuk, Evgeni Dadanov, Colin White, Connor Brown are a decent set of wingers and they have Alex Fomenton and Drake Batherson about to pop.
They’ve already made a big bet in goal with Matt Murray and worth noting they still have almost $9 million in free cap space even after today’s activities.
I think they are in a very good place and will likely get another key piece in the next draft.
Agree on all of that. And they look like they are on track. I just thought they would get more for rescuing Tampa. I don’t think they squeezed as hard as they could.
I’m almost more surprised about Stepan. There’s nothing wrong with a 2nd rounder to pay him $2M per se. But there were what, three (?) other teams that had the space to take on his $6.5M cap hit. Did they have a tiny bidding war? Seems like it was too easy.
Those two deals by Dorian were horrific. He took two teams out of cap hell and netted zero draft picks. That’s Chiarelli / Benning level of GM’ing. Just so he can finish 7th by a couple of less points.
The Stepan trade should be Stepan and a 2nd rounder from ‘zona for Ottawa’s 7th rounder. And he picked up two mediocre players from Tampa for a 2nd round pick. That should have been way more expensive for Tampa.
Yup.
@CapFriendly
·
3h
Tampa Bay #Lightning update after trading away Coburn and Paquette:
$15.8M above the salary cap!
Roster of 20 (12F- 6D – 2G)
[Important: $16.975M expected to be placed on LTIR which would result in a cap compliant team]
Ottawa Senators
@Senators
·
5m
News Release: The #Sens have acquired defenceman Braydon Coburn, forward Cedric Paquette and a second-round draft pick in 2022 from
@TBLightning
in exchange for Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson: http://ottsens.com/3nTQ4ba
Team Canada is missing Holloway!
on the PK too.
St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) Tweeted:
Mike Hoffman has signed a professional tryout contract with the Blues and will be in Training Camp when it begins on Jan. 3. https://t.co/5ScFoQcbUx #stlblues
https://twitter.com/StLouisBlues/status/1343344735495352321?s=20
This is a brilliant move by the Blues.
I’m highly confident they have a deal in place with Hoffman but will wait until day 1 of the season to sign it after Tarasenko and Steen are placed on LTIR.
The PTO allows him to attend camp, insured, without the contract.
Just speculation but Holloway did take a solid headshot yesterday:
https://twitter.com/ToughCallBlog/status/1343225511376543745
With that said, I wouldn’t think players would generally take warm-up and see how it goes with “concussion-like symptoms” – but who knows.
Its nice to watch a competitive game tonight.
Per Dreger, no NHL players from last season have opted out of the upcoming season.
Wow. Figured there would be a few.
There’s still time
Wasn’t the 24th the deadline? Could be mistaken..
Deadline was the 24th for the 7 teams that didn’t return and the 27th for the rest.
Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) Tweeted:
News Release: The #Sens have signed forward Tim Stuetzle to a three-year, entry-level contract: https://t.co/vkZokq0JEb https://t.co/WSj1Kkm8iJ
https://twitter.com/Media_Sens/status/1343315547711127552?s=20
but, but he was -7 yesterday……
He’ll be in the Sens lineup this season.
Holloway scratched for today’s game…..
McKenzie says he’s doubtful but will try to give it a go in warmups – injury related not coach’s decision.
Thanks
Facksakes
Of note:
– Kesserling got 5 and game for a head contact hit in NorthEastern’s first post-holiday break game last night.
– Brindamour get 5 and game for cross-checking last night – not until he got 1G/1A though.
I wrote a post an hour ago . It was not political or confrontational in any way, but it is “waiting for approval”, what does this mean?
Don’t know, will check.
oilersfan: I checked, no content in your post was flagged and you didn’t use links, etc that would have landed in the spam feature. It is now published below. So you and others know, these are the words that will get your post flagged by the filter:
Trump
Trudeau
bitcoin
Bitcoin
Viagra
military
cialis
sounds like quite the party
George Carlin had a very different list of 7 words
Here is the Lavoie goal from today – love seeing the low shot (players love going high but low shots create rebounds and can go in as well…):
https://twitter.com/antonj85/status/1343259103351730186
I love how nonchalantly he stepped into that shot, hardly any windup at all either.
Ya, looked to me like he “took a bit off” to hit the spot.
Not sure that goes in often on an NHL goalie, not sure it doesn’t though (accuracy and release often more important than pure power – although I’ll take all three in one…..).
OP, thanks for all your prospect updates!
For those that follow baseball and older. Rest in peace Phil Niekro.
If his loved ones wish to communicate with him in the future, they’ll have to find a Niekromancer.
I would disagree about the “team balance” at this point when one considers the players available for the PK. There are too many right shot forwards designated for the PK… archibald, turris, possibly Haas or Jesse. The only left shots are Nuge and Khaira… doesn’t the team need to have the option of not dressing Khaira given his awful 5×5 play? And given Nuge’s role as a top 6 forward 5×5 and on the PP wouldn’t it make sense to have a different left shot PK forward option? I am very concerned this will be a problem and am surprised Tippet hasn’t asked for a left shot PK specialist at the position. Frankly I think Sheehan is a huge upgrade on Khaira, and given the large roster possibilities and I assume he would sign for league minimum, i am holding out hope that he gets signed .
I can’t say with any sort of certainty that Sheahan was better than Khaira at 5 on 5 last season. Personally, I’d prefer Khaira as he’s bigger, faster and there is the small smidgen of hope of some upside. Sure, bring in Sheahan on a PTO but my goodness no contract – in my opinon.
You also missed another PK option, likely higher on the list that Turris, Jesse, etc. – Yamamoto, who PK’d down the stretch last year – yes, right shot again but, frankly, I’m not overly concerned with handedness on the PK – I mean Nuge/Khaira were a pair last year – both shot left and it was not an issue, they were highly succesful.
Holland knows full well the importance of a deep D for a long playoff run that’s why he paid what he paid for Green last year. I’m not saying we have the best starting D but we definitely have the deepest D in the division. With the short training camp and the compressed schedule all teams will have injuries on the backend right out of the gate. I give Holland a A for preparing for this.
Holy crap – training camp starts a week today – how exciting!
@JasonGregor
Ethan Bear update:
His agent, Jason Davidson and Oilers continue to have talks. One, two and three year deals have been discussed. Talks have been cordial. They just disagree on $$ at this time.
Bear is skating in Kelowna. To ensure he doesn’t miss day one of camp then he
Needs to be in Edmonton at the following times.
1. If he flies commercial he needs to be in city tonight.
2. If he drives, and Kelowna is not considered a hot-spot, and he doesn’t go in any places, then he has to be in Edmonton by the 31st.
Thanks, I was wondering about the timelines for Bear to get to Edmonton. So he’s got a few more days before he’ll need to miss camp time.
Well, not if he’s flying……
For all we know he’s on his way to Edmonton right now – I would hope so, I mean, why wouldn’t he get to Edmonton within the required timelines even with the contract not quite finalized (on the anticipation that it will be done).
Presumably he’d drive rather than fly if it made the difference in him missing time or not.
And why wouldn’t he get himself to Edmonton in advance of a deal being signed? Seems like a pretty basic bargaining tactic, no?
Sounds like Jesse is out of quarantine, etc. and will be on the ice with the boys today!
Samorukov wasn’t in the lineup for CSKA Moscow today for some reason…..
Maksimov was though (as he bounces between the KHL and VHL). Looks like he lined up on the 2nd line to start – got himself 13 minutes of ice but -1 and no shots in a 2-1 loss.
Lavoie had 1G/1A with 5 shots in a 5-3 Vasby loss – he was -2 mind you but played 22 minutes – a couple more than anyone else. Kemp was even with a shot on goal in 18 minutes of ice (2nd among d-men)
CapitalsPR
@CapitalsPR
·
41m
#Caps sign goaltender Craig Anderson to a professional tryout agreement. Anderson, 39, registered an 11-17-2 record with a 3.25 GAA and a .902 save percentage in 34 games with Ottawa last season.
The Senators acquire Derek Stepan from Arizona for a second round pick.
https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiigFodHRwczovL290dGF3YXN1bi5jb20vc3BvcnRzL2hvY2tleS9uaGwvb3R0YXdhLXNlbmF0b3JzL2dhcnJpb2NoLXNlbmF0b3JzLWFkZC12ZXRlcmFuLWRlcHRoLWJ5LWFjcXVpcmluZy1kZXJlay1zdGVwYW4tZnJvbS1hcml6b25hLWNveW90ZXPSAbgBaHR0cHM6Ly9vdHRhd2FzdW4uY29tL3Nwb3J0cy9ob2NrZXkvbmhsL290dGF3YS1zZW5hdG9ycy9nYXJyaW9jaC1zZW5hdG9ycy1hZGQtdmV0ZXJhbi1kZXB0aC1ieS1hY3F1aXJpbmctZGVyZWstc3RlcGFuLWZyb20tYXJpem9uYS1jb3lvdGVzL3djbS81OWQzNzRhZC0zMDBlLTRjN2MtYjBiOC05NmRjOTJhNTlmMDcvYW1wLw?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen
Ottawa has spent some money this off season. They will surprise a few teams early on if they think they are an easy two points.
i thought this move was to avoid spending money. isnt the cap hit larger than the actual dollars?
They didn’t have to spend anything. They are well over the cap floor. But they have brought in a few highly paid vets. Dadinov, Murray on longer terms and Gudbranson for this year.
They are about $15 M over the bottom cap number so to me that is a sign they are starting the turn to being competitive after a few years of house cleaning.
The Senators are very weak at centre and Stepan appears to be a stop gap until some of their young guys are ready.
Dom has a breakdown here:
https://theathletic.com/2272647/2020/12/27/ottawa-senators-season-preview/?source=user_shared_article
I’m a little shocked the Coyotes got paid to dispose of that $6.5M cap hit. I guess the $2M in real salary is the only number that matters for the Sens..
A 2nd does seem high.
The Senators had 3 second round picks and, after getting 10 picks in the 2020 draft, they likely don’t place as much value on those picks as would normally be the case.
Finding a place to play for all their prospects might be a bigger issue.
A solid move by Dorion.
Stepan will help them on the ice.
I think the Sens will be very competitive this season, however on the assumption that they still will be outside the playoff picture, Dorion will likely be able to recoup that 2nd round pick, if not more, by selling Stepan at the deadline. The only hesitation I have in that regard is if the true market for the Sens is 6 teams or 30 teams given protocols.
13th forward, 7th man – tough place to be in the NHL. New, and sometimes better, players coming for your job all the time. Lagesson probably thinks he finally has a good chance to make and NHL team. Well he does. If he cannot beat out Koekoek that does not mean he is not an NHL Dman. It just means not on this team, this year. He may get claimed if the Oilers try to get him to the taxi squad or maybe he is just a tweener. I like that the team has drafted and developed this player. However, I don’t care who plays – just win baby (shout out to Al Davis). I see one of Lagesson and Koekoek passing KRusty and playing upwards of 25 games this year. Who will it be?
Coach’s T and P really reduced Russell’s minutes last year, particularly at even strength. With Klefbom out, Russell will be needed to play material minutes on the PK when he’s in the lineup but I don’t think his 5 on 5 time will be increased.
I think, given his age, etc., the coaches will try to manage his load and he’ll get somewhat frequent nights off when healthy – the question is if Lagesson or Koekkoek is on the roster as 7D – likely Koekkoek.
I didn’t realize Holloway played the most minutes of any forward yesterday. I assume some of that is because others were sat as the score became embarrassing. I saw some nice things from him but I don’t think it was the kind of game where his offensive style particularly shines.
Following him in the offensive zone he seemed to like to assume the Ryan Smyth spot in front of the goalie looking to screen or fight for rebounds.
Alas, that only works if the goalie isn’t just letting in the first shots so that there never were any rebounds to fight for.
The series will be good for Broberg. Dominating on the ice is always good for the confidence and confidence always helps.
I think it’s also important to consider what he’s being asked to do for the team. I’m pretty sure it’s to be the responsible one.
Kind of like Broberg last year — to neutralize the opponent’s best players.
Question for the group LT… so this Balance Photo, can it be awarded mid season, or is this a start of season publication only? Meaning, if we get said solid backup goalie at the deadline, can we put this mystery to rest?
We’ve been waiting so long for this Balance Photo, don’t be surprised if it has wrinkles.
It has to be a balanced roster to start the season OR after the deadline.
April 12 2021… mark your calendars!
What if Koskinen and Smith have both played 22/23 GP on April 12th, both with a .910 or better SV%? Is there any possibility of redemption for Smith?
Or.
What if Koskinen and Smith have both played 22/23 GP on April 12th, and both have a 13-8-2 win/loss record and the HC turns out not care so much about GAA or Sv% as he does about points in the standings?
For sure, that would be fair. But even I (being one who posted on Smith’s strong on ice numbers vs his poor SV%) think it’s unlikely Smith will have a 13-8-2 record if his SV% is still hovering around .900.
I’m remain doubtful that’s a repeatable skill (though there is *some* evidence it might be). Was thinking more if he plays for like the January-March version of Mike Smith (.911 SV%) through the first 45 games of this year.
I think you are probably right but, when I think about it, there is a lot of offensive firepower and good powerplays in the North Division as well as some teams with question marks on their defence.
Combine that with a short training camp and no exhibition games and a weird schedule, etc., I think the division will be quite high scoring.
Yeah that’s a fair point. I was looking a bit at how the Cdn division teams fared last season and as a group they did fall average or above in GF and PP success but below league average in defensive metrics. Definitely could/should be a higher scoring division this season.
.900 was just based on numbers we’re used to, so we can likely adjust Smith (and all the other goalies in the Cdn division) down a little based on composition.
I’ll post some of the numbers at some point if I have time.
Only redemption is if he finds the fountain of youth. Having a good year could get him another contract with some team
Well he won’t find the fountain of youth, but it’s not that unlikely (IMO) that he’s able to play like he did Jan-Mar 2020. That would be more than fine for the Oilers if he can manage it, and definitely could keep him playing beyond this season.
I totally agree and I think that’s the way Holland and Tippett think as well.
Radio silence on EB. Waldo better have been in Edmonton yesterday!
Don’t take my recency bias, LT. How am I supposed to complain about all my favourite sports teams without it?!
Broberg for top pairing! Trade Nurse!
Lol. I do think that next Nurse contract will be a Holland pressure point. It’s going to be an epic negotiation/contract.
Or trade. 😉
Yup, it surely is – and we know it before he even plays a game under his new 2-year contract.
Klefbom’s status is an unknown and the team should have a much better grasp of his future come September (well, hopefully, come the expansion draft in June) but, either way, with hopefully continued progression of Jones, Samourkov and Broberg, the time is coming where one of the two incumbent top 2 LD (Nurse and Klefbom) likely needs to get moved for cap structuring (and asset acquisition).
Unless the contract negotiations truly go off the rails, I don’t see Nurse being moved. I believe Holland and his coaching staff see Nurse as part of the core and the leadership group – Stauff said the other day that Nurse would be captain if Leon and Drai weren’t Oilers….
Truth be told, I think the Klef is the overall “better player” but he needs health to be that guy and, to me, Nurse needs to take one more step defensively to become a value $6M d-man – just learn to make less mental mistakes in the defensive zone (don’t leave the danger zone to go puck chase/walkabout and consistently identify the danger player to cover).
Nurse’s durability is a big plus as well.
The thing is all 3 of Broberg, Bouchard and Samorukov will be Oilers on NHL salary friendly contracts by then (after 2 years), both Bear and Jones could be solid NHL vets. If you had to chose between Barrie and Nurse passing the puck to McDonald’s and Drai, well that is a no brainer. In 2 years Nurse could give the Oilers an amazing player back in trade
Of course Barrie is a superior transitioner of the puck by pass than Nurse but, of course, that is only one part of the game – an important part but only one part.
Tyson Barrie is going to be 30 when the 2021/22 season starts, if he demands 5 years of term at $6M plus, I’m not sure that makes sense for the Oilers. No, I don’t expect him to fall off the cliff when he turns 30 but his next contract is for regression years – just as Nurse goes peak prime years – different skill-sets but both important.
Evan Bouchard has many over-lapping skills with Barrie and Bear, while also having some similar skills, has a different type of defensive pedigree and acumen and was effective on the PK this year.
We’ll see how this season goes but, come next off-season, I think I’ll be fully comfortable with Bear and Bouchard being two pieces of the right side going forward.
Thank you good sir – pretty much exactly what I posted yesterday afternoon.
Of course Broberg is going to excel in this tournament against his age group – he always does, dating back to the Hilinka. Of course he looks good at camp – high end skaters with size always look great at camp (see Broberg, see McLeod).
Neither of these things equate to NHL readiness.
For the last few months, Broberg has been “uneven” at best playing second pairing in Skeleffea – he hasn’t been a plus player in evens for like 13 straight games. He’s still finding his way in the SHL as a 2nd pairing d-men. An add of 5 min TOI/G this year is real and its spectacular but he’s developing in those minutes.
Personally, I think the Condors is the perfect place for him come mid-April (and likely October as well).
If we want to talk new prospect d-men potentially impacting the roster in October, I think we should be talking about Samorukov!
Me too. Would love to see him in Edmonton after he finishes his season in the KHL.
Will Arizona or Toronto run with 3 goalies on their active roster?
If not, Aidin Hill and Aaron Dell will be available for claim – are they better options than Smith and/or Forsberg?
Holland signed Smith with Dell still out there so I assume he’s not a claim option.
I’m sure there are other similar 3G’s out there if I was to do the research.
Personally, I’m comfortable with Forsberg as the 3G (but, of course, always happy to improve).
So, who does the Koekkoek acquisition push off the roster and taxi squad and out of Edmonton to start the year.
We’ve got 29 spots, 26 for skaters.
I had the following 6 on the taxi squad prior to the acquisition:
Fosberg
Bouchard, Lennstrom
Nygard, Benson, Russell (could be Quine, Cracknell).
Now, presumably, Lagesson is off the main roster and on the taxi squad (if he clears waivers) but who does this push off the taxi squad and assigned out of town?
Do they only keep two extra forwards?
Does Bouchard get assigned to Bakersfield (it doesn’t start until February, at the earlier)
Does Lagesson?
Bouchard is 4RD, in my opinion, then again, the new guy has played a lot of the right side, then again, Tip/Playfair do like rightie/leftie and Bouch should play.
Of course, injuries coming out of camp will have a say in this.
Has Lagesson and Lennstrom been recalled from their loans yet?
With the signing of Koekkoek, it makes it even more likely Lagesson is kept on his loan in Sweden to avoid putting him on waivers for the time being.
Yes, both Lagesson and Lennstrom are in Edmonton – have been for a while.