It Takes A Worried Man

Training camp and preseason are an exciting time. This fall, we’ll see Connor McDavid sign an extension, two quality rookie wingers push for playing time with the elite skill centers, and the best Stuart Skinner has to bring in a walk year.

We’ll also see bedlam and chaos. It happens every year. One minute you’re praising offseason acquisition Ben Eager, the next minute you’re watching Kirill Tulupov end the left-wing depth chart in the Joey Moss game. Here’s what I wrote about Tulupov, Joey Moss post-game September 2011: Raised eyebrows on the Ben Eager belt, concerns on the Taylor Hall mauling. I’m not certain he owns the brains God gave him but fear and a sense of the moment don’t appear to be in the vocabulary.

That Joey Moss game 14 years ago gave us some good indicators about the future, both good and bad. Here’s a summary of what I wrote about several players after the Moss game in 2011.

Jeff Petry: Midnight without lights or high noon in the center of town, no one can tell me this guy is the 7th best defender in the group. A key player for the Edmonton Oilers, beginning this fall.

Gilbert Brule: You can see why a team would be attracted to his skill set, and this game works for him on a lot of levels. One of them is shooting, he’s a born shooter. I don’t know what his future holds, but if he plays that way during preseason the Oilers can find him a home.

Martin Marincin: I was very impressed with him. Look, he’s young and gangly, but that big stick of his is very effective and makes passes difficult for opposition forwards down low. I really like him a lot, moreso after today.

You can grab a lot about what the coach is thinking based on ice time during the preseason. Last fall, the leading Oilers player in terms of preseason five-on-five minutes was Travis Dermott (via Natural Stat Trick). It didn’t work out for the Oilers, or Dermott, but you can see what Kris Knoblauch was thinking.

Other fringe players who got a push last year in training camp? Noah Philp, Josh Brown, Ben Gleason and Drake Caggiula. All were headed for Bakersfield but would be recalled during the year.

In terms of pure prospects getting a shot last year, Sam O’Reilly had 47 minutes, Matt Savoie 44, Raphael Lavoie 41, William Nicholl 15.

The individual numbers for the phenoms in their first rookie camps is interesting. Taylor Hall (21:58 in two games, all numbers five-on-five), Jordan Eberle (38:43 in three) were on the low side compared to Leon Draisaitl (62:01 in five) and Connor McDavid (56:51 in four). Natural Stat Trick doesn’t have the TOI for Sam Gagner’s first preseason, but my guess is he played more than anyone.

Ike Howard will get plenty of playing time, Knoblauch has to be sure he can play NHL hockey or send him to Bakersfield. This isn’t a ‘he’ll be there all year’ trip, but the pressure will be on, Savoie is also looking for work, and we’ll see about getting both men into the lineup. For me, I do believe both make the team. My current lines are Mangiapane-McDavid-Hyman; Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Savoie; Howard-Nuge-Frederic and a fourth line of Janmark-Henrique-Kapanen. We’ll see. Moving Janmark allows Curtis Lazar or Noah Philp to draw in, and of course David Tomasek is a wild card.