We are reaching the end of August and at this time it’s appropriate to begin construction of the predicted training camp roster. I’m going to assume there will be a PTO or two, maybe a surprise “Oliver Kylington would like to try the NHL again” lands in the Oilers lap. All of those wild thoughts aside, here’s a quick early look at the 2026-27 Edmonton Oilers. I count 50, and have excluded the college kids. Let me know if I’m missing anyone.
THIS YEAR’S CERTAIN OILERS (19)
Center: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Jason Dickinson
Wingers: Zach Hyman, Matt Savoie, Vasily Podkolzin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kasperi Kapanen, Trent Frederic, Colton Dach
Defense: Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Ryan Shea, Connor Murphy, Jake Walman, Ty Emberson
Goalies: Frederik Andersen, Tristan Jarry, Devon Levi
THIS YEAR’S UNCERTAIN OILERS (13)
Center: Mattias Janmark, Josh Samanski, Owen Michaels
Wingers: Mathieu Joseph, Ike Howard, Quinn Hutson, Max Jones, Connor Clattenburg, Eduards Tralmaks
Defense: Shakir Mukhamadullin, Spencer Stastney, Alec Regula, Josh Brown
Goalies:
THIS YEAR’S DISTANT BELLS (18)
Centers: Viljami Marjala, William Nicholl, Caden Harvey
Wingers: Aku Raty, James Stefan, Brady Stonehouse, David Lewandowski
Defense: Damien Carfagna, Beau Akey, Riley Stillman, Atro Leppänen, Tomas Cibulka, Andrew Robinson
Goalies: Matt Tompkins, Samuel Jonsson, Connor Ungar, Nathan Day, Eemil Vinni
I have Mattias Janmark at center, it could be any number of wingers up to and including Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. We don’t know how Mike Babcock sees these forwards. All of the goalies not headed for the NHL team are distant bells. I have Owen Michaels as an uncertain Oilers player because he’s a RH center and the team believes him him (the contract says as much).
The toughest calls for me were Connor Clattenburg and Eduards Tralmaks in the uncertain pile. You could argue both should be in the distant bell category, but could impress Babcock due to their unique skill sets. One of the reasons I do this is to give full credit to those players who jump their assumed spot on the depth chart. I think Clattenburg and Tralmaks are best served in the uncertain category. They are unique and that’s a very good thing.
Finally, a word about roster certainty. Plenty of talk about the roster being set and wondering why I’m bothering with the idea of an outlier winning an NHL job this fall. Perhaps some of you haven’t seen what happens when a new coach arrives to an organization. There are changes coming. We could see trades and some surprising waivers. We could see summer plans fail to launch. It’s best to assume at least one surprising roster cut by Babcock and his coaching staff.
On the Lowdown today, it’s the round table and we will discuss the Oilers, Elks, Jays and the NFL season being close at hand. Noon to 2pm, Sports 1440 and YouTube.
I could see Babcock, being Babcock, elevating a player most of us see as having little chance of being on the roster, and demoting someone we think should be.
RIP Dolly Parton
A incredible human being who supported child literacy in many countries.
@anishmoonka
The doctor who delivered Dolly Parton in a one-room Tennessee cabin in 1946 was paid with a sack of cornmeal. Her father farmed other people’s land and could not read or write. Eighty years later, the reading program she built in his name has mailed more than 300 million books.
She wrote “I Will Always Love You” on the same afternoon she wrote “Jolene,” as a goodbye to Porter Wagoner, and released it in 1974.
Elvis wanted it. The night before the session, Colonel Tom Parker called and said Presley would only record it if they got half the publishing, meaning half of everything the song ever earned. She had been in Nashville ten years by then. She said no, and cried all night.
Whitney Houston cut her version in 1992, held number one for fourteen weeks, and Forbes later put Parton’s royalties from it near $10 million. She put some of that money into an office complex in Nashville and called the place the house that Whitney built.
Dollywood opened in Pigeon Forge in 1986 because she wanted paychecks in the county she came from. Around 4,000 people work there now. Three million visitors come every year. The University of Tennessee put its economic impact at $1.8 billion, and it is the largest employer in Sevier County. Since 2022 the company has paid tuition, fees, and books in full for every worker from their first day, seasonal hires included.
Wildfires tore through those mountains in November 2016, killing fourteen people and destroying more than 2,400 buildings. Her foundation was handing out money within 48 hours. Every family that lost a home got $1,000 a month for six months, regardless of income. The final check was $5,000. Total delivered: $8.9 million.
In April 2020 she sent $1 million to Vanderbilt for coronavirus research. When Moderna’s vaccine results ran in the New England Journal of Medicine that November, her fund appeared in the footnotes.
Carl Dean, her husband of nearly sixty years, died in March 2025. The note she wrote to fans afterward ended with the same five words she wrote for Porter Wagoner back in 1974.
She died in Nashville today. Her family asked that instead of flowers, people give to the Imagination Library, which still mails 3.4 million books a month to children who will never get to meet her.
Dolly Parton was an amazing singer, song writer, and actress, who was blessed with a kind soul and an immense heart.
Did you know that Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partners with select Canadian Military Family Resource Centres (MFRCs) to provide free, age-appropriate monthly books for military children from birth until age five.
May she rest in eternal peace and in the fond memories of her friends, family, and fans.
Her influence on the music industry is difficult to measure
Her rendition of Stairway to Heaven is mesmerizing.
https://youtu.be/YhTvxVxXJLQ?si=6ePwYT02eV225D2M
A message from her family.
https://x.com/DollyParton/status/2092309743981228273/video/1?s=61
I’ll always remember her girlish giggle. She was a fun and happy lady who shared that spirit with the world.
I was today years old when I found out that she, and not Kate Bush, was Peter Gabriel’s first choice to duet with for the haunting “Don’t Give Up”.
Jonah Sigel | Sports media + streaming
@yyzsportsmedia
Rumblings: sounds like Ron Maclean will return to Roger’s Saturday night hockey, barring the unforeseen.
Same time neither Elliotte’s or Kevin’s contracts have been finalized as of yet. Some talk about one or both seeking to do work with Amazon too- but nothing done with either
I’m with Lansky and LT a few others on this: change the fckn format!
I don’t want the good ole boys n gals having a chinwag. I want to learn something new. I think Ron has done good work in the service of hockey in Canada, retire him and bring in some fresh perspective (and that doesn’t mean Spittin Chicklets).
I nominate LT and Donovan P, to get the ball rolling.
Rogers has already hived off Wednesday night games and I expect they will continue to do so.
Interesting to me is the speculation that Friedman and Bieksa would like to be involved the Amazon Prime broadcasts.
Able to speak more freely than at Rogers. Most of the hockey viewership isn’t into having certain narratives rammed down their throats continuously. Let’s face it Rogers is a poor product run be wing nuts. Only reason they’re still in business is that many Canadian viewers had no other choice until recently.
The 50/50 wrangling during the intermission is not entertainment.
Other teams get actual analysis of gameplay.
Oilers get sad stories flogging 50/50 tickets and Gene’s puns.
It’s a sad product… just sad.
The regular season hiving is the same as the last few years, no? Only change is the night, Monday to Wed, no?
Not at all.
Last season, Amazon Prime had the rights to ONE Monday night game.
They now have the exclusive rights to ALL Wednesday night games in English and French as well as the rights to 2 first round and 1 second round playoff series.
Their foot print is much larger.
Prime had 26 regular season games in 2025/26, on Mondays.
Prime has 26 regular season games in 2026/27, on Wednesdays.
I spoke specifically about the regular season and pretty much nothing is changing but the night Amazon shows games.
All Canadian teams in the playoffs will be in SN, almost certainty, given Amazon gets the 4th choice in round 1 and the 3rd choice in round 2.
I guess you don’t know what EXCLUSIVE means.
Take a look a the NHL schedule and you will see Wednesday games do not have a broadcast scheduled.
You are also assuming multiple Canadian teams will make the playoffs. Far from a given.
It’s the same amount of games – all it means is there will be a few more games on other nights – who cares how many games are played on a Tuesday vs. a Wed vs. a Thursday.
You clearly missed the 2nd point completely – all series involving Canadian teams will be on SN – no-one needs to worry about Prime getting a Canadian series under this arrangement.
There are 3-5 games scheduled most Wednesday nights throughout the season.…6 on November 11th.
And it is entirely possible only 1 Canadian team makes the playoffs leaving Amazon with the option of premium matchups.
Amazon gets the 4th and 5th pick in round 1 and the 3rd pick in round 2.
There will be no Canadian teams for Amazon to pick from – geez.
Careful there, Rogers.
Has no one learned from the Oilers’ mistakes?
Lock up those two. I can see offer sheets coming… plucking Bieksa and Friedman and leaving Rogers with not much of anything.
It’ll just be MacLean telling pointless, rambling tales of nothingtude every intermission.
Two Oilers late round picks in Pronman’s 2025 redraft top 70.
he has Asher Barnett 57th (drafted 131/5th round) and David Lewandowski 66th (drafted 117/4th round). Lafrenière not on there but probably could have been.
Thanks for posting.
Although I don’t respect much of what Pronman does these days (LOTS of shock value in his recent work), this lines up. As we’ve been saying, a year out, almost everyone drafted in 2025 is trending above expectation and their draft slot.
I’m beginning to wonder if McDavid’s gold medal overtime disappointment for Team Canada last season may have been a good thing for the Oilers.
Imo McDavid’s greatest strength (his competitiveness) is also his greatest weakness. We’ve all seen it time and again. When the team is struggling, Connor starts to put too much on his own shoulders and becomes less effective as a result. From trying to beat 3 players on his own to getting caught deep, to turning it over for odd man rushes against, McDavid’s problems manifest when he abandons team structure in favour of the low percentage hero play.
As an Oiler, Connor could probably rationalize these sorties internally as necessary, thinking he doesn’t have enough depth around him to generate goals otherwise. But you can’t make that argument when you lose with Team Canada.
Connor can certainly blame the Oilers (if he chooses) for not building a strong enough team to win the Cup. But when you lose with Team Canada when you’re on the ice with MacKinnon and Makar and all 3 of you make mental errors that cost you the gold medal, that has to prompt some self reflection on the state of your game.
Throughout his career as an Oiler, McDavid (and Draisaitl’s) committment to defensive play and team structure has been inconsistent, and the choice of that word is being charitable. It didn’t take under taskmasters like Hitchcock and Maclellan so they swung to player friendly coaches (yes men?) like Woodcroft and Knoblauch. But the main issue has stayed the same throughout.
We”ve talked ad infinitum about Connor having his Yzerman epiphany and becoming a legitimate 200ft player. And as an Oiler fan, I’m starting to feel like the kids in the back seat. “Are we there yet?”
And now Babcock. Desperate times call for desperate measures. But honestly, at some point, the players themselves have to own this instead of cycling through HCs as if the system is the problem instead of their inconsistent commitment to it.
Yup. And, McD is smart. Stubborn, and smart. As I’ve said elsewhere, I think the coach change gives cover for a change in play. I’m expecting more maturity this season.
The interesting development to me last season was how Connor bristled when the subject of his defensive play came up. He literally said “This again?” during one interview with Spector.
That’s right folks. McDavid is getting defensive about his defensive play. That’s progress of a sort I guess.
McDavid is a pretty level headed talker so is Leon. It’s all about getting the clicks let’s ask dumb questions all in the name of getting clicks. Babcock is not a moron he’s not going to turn Connor and Leon into 23 goal checking Dave Hunters. Yzerman stats started coming down because his game was reflecting that as he was getting older. Steve couldn’t push the river like he could at a younger age. Look at the centre depth as Mike aged he was surrounded by a 2-C and 3-C that were really good. No way Babcock comes into camp and tells Leon-Connor that you guys are scoring to much can you tone it down a bit and make a couple of Jacques Lemaire fans happy.
You could feed the Royal Lipazzaner stallions for a year with the strawmen you’ve shoveled here.
Age and Sergei Federov…..
If I’m not mistaken, that was about the team’s ability to play a shut down game, not him individually – and he took offence given the team had done that in stretches, including playoff runs – of course, in past years. No?
McDavid doesnt’ need any sort of “Yzerman moment”. He doesn’t need to work harder on the “away from the puck” aspect of the game, he just needs to be smarter and that shouldn’t be hard for him and, what I think he needs to do, won’t even hinder his production (and could help it).
The main think is his rush defence/back-track – my goodness can he be smarter (maybe with some coaching) and NOT always try and attack the puck carrier, that is often covered by the d-man in position, and keep structure and cover the late attacker/danger person high. Similar to his defensive zone structure play, less puck chasing/roamsing, stay in structure. In particular his defensive zone retrieval game, start stoping on pucks to battle and stop trying to poke the puck ahead and fly the zone for a fast break – you’ll give up a fast break one out of every 10 times but you’ll get the puck back 6-7 out of 10 probably.
None of these will inhibit his ability to get 140 or 150 points and might help. Less goals against and game chasing, more possession, etc.
Imo this fanbase has been far too protective of and deferential to McDavid. When you dub a player McJesus before he’s even played a game, it doesn’t leave much room for constructive criticism.
This fanbase has been so scared of McDavid leaving that any discussion of the obvious warts in his game is quickly quashed. The Dynasty core by contrast was ripped in the papers regularly, Gretzky included. Terry Jones calling the entire team “gutless” is probably the most egregious example.
Connor is not perfect. No player is. So he’s not above criticism imo.
The Oilers were right there in Game 7 with a chance to win it all. Didn’t get it done. Team Canada was right there in overtime. Didn’t get it done. I’m not saying McDavid is solely responsible for his teams falling short in these instances. Hockey is a team game. But I am a little tired of hearing how Connor’s legacy has been scuttled by organizational failings beyond his control.
At the end of the day, great players have to rise to the occasion when the opportunity is in front of them. Connor has had his opportunities. That’s all an athlete can ask for.
Apparently Mario Lemieux went with “Trottier-Francis-Cullen Moment” instead of the “Yzerman Moment”
Reja, you’ve been pushing back on McD playing 200 ft since I’ve been reading comments here. I’m not sure why. Coming back and playing smart in the D and neutral zone is how he’ll win more. And winning more is what he says he wants. I believe him.
It was the new coach who trotted out the “Yzerman moment” story viz McD, most recently. It’s McD who’s called for this kind of push on his own play. Accountability he’s calling it.
Do you really think he’s not ready and willing to mature as a hockey player, a team player? I take him at his word, that he wants this. Will this turn into changed play? Into wins? Into a Cup or three? I wait.
Dickinson facing the heavies allowing Leon and Connor to go Super Nova. Babcock is not going to put a leash on McDavid and Leon like you think. Mike will try to find a way to get Connor and Leon free air. Leon has Podkolzin and Kapanen for his defence Connor has Savoie and Hyman. Did Scotty Bowman ever put a leash on Lafleur or Shutt of course not. The Habs learned from the Russians just as Sather learned from the WHA Jets Hedberg-Nilsson Hull. I think you see Babcock attack in 5 man units. I think you’ll see the Oilers as a team score 43 more goals and reduce the goals against is that enough accountability for you. You’ll be amazed what a rested Connor-Leon-Bouchard can do. These are not good players like Gainey-Carbonneau-Jarvis that had brick hands these are superstars Babcock would never try to neuter Leon-Connor-Bouchard.
Your whole argument is predicated on this myth that playing responsible defence is “putting a leash” on a player. The reality is good defence generates turnovers, quick transitions, and odd man rushes. You’re also chasing the game less to overcome goals against which conserves energy.
The Canes to a man played diligent defence in their Cup run. I didn’t see too many players suffering on a leash there. They did all hoist the Cup however.
Yes. This.
Playing smarter on the back-track defending the rush, playing positionally smarter and not roving in the defensive structure game and actually stopping up pucks in the defensive zone to retrieve instead of hope plays flying the zone – none of that is putting a leash on McDavid.
Doing this could very much lead in an increase in production – less goals against so less game chasing, more time with the puck, etc.
You’re describing what McD’s “Yzerman moment” would look like: the maturity to play responsibly for 200 feet, to do the things that result in more puck possession, more attack, less defending. His turnaround moment this past season (from irresponsible to responsible play) happened Nov 26-Dec 25. He’d been badly in the +/- negatives, even while close to league lead in scoring. During that month he increased scoring considerably, put himself in the +/- positive, and helped put his team in the best position they’d be all season.
So I agree, McD playing responsibly is not going to cost him scoring points. If anything, it’ll boost his points. And, it’ll help everyone – the crease on out – win games. He knows how to do this. He, and his team, played this way to the ‘24 and ‘25 SCFs. All the coaching drama is cover for whatever disabled him from playing that way consistently last season.
As I wrote elsewhere, how teams respond to losing championship series’ is beyond both talent and willpower. A poor season post World Series or SCF loss is more common than not. I’m counting on the team, and especially McDrai, to respond positively to their poor play of last season. I’m less convinced that this will be a matter of coaching. I think (and hope) that it’s something personal for both McD and Draisaitl. And I hope to hell they have an internal competition for Selke. That will pretty much guarantee them Cups.
Call it an Yzerman moment if you want, doesn’t really matter.
My point was twofold: (1) this doesn’t mean McDavid has to “play harder”, he plays hard all the time but he needs to play smarter, in certain areas, as I detailed and (2) this does not mean he will have a 40 point drop off in production, as you state and I agree with, this shouldn’t negatively impact his offensive production at all and could help to increase it.
Agreed.
Is Tarasenko this year’s Roslovic? I’m starting to warm to the idea, especially if he’ll do one year at $2M.
I’m warm to the idea, but I’d prefer to a) give Isaac Howard the opportunity to deliver in the role, and d) aim higher by adding a Filip Forsberg or Bo Horvat in-season.
Tarasenko would be useful during the regular season, but I don’t see him in the top-6 come playoffs.
That’s definitely aiming high.
Is Forsberg available or likely to be available?
The Oilers love to sign guys they missed out on drafting and ol’ Bo woulda been a good pick instead of Darnell.
There’s a certain symmetry to the Oilers acquiring Bo Horvat in the same season they traded Darnell Nurse.
Like the Horvat idea.
Horvat has a full NTC and I can’t imagine an ascending team would trade their 1C on a bargain $8.5 million contract.
It would take a massive offer to even start a conversation.
“Ascending Team” that has ascended to sixth in their division the last few years. Taking a look at their roster, they may be the oldest team in the NHL give or take the Panthers.
I don’t need a list of their blue chip prospects, we know what those are worth.
The Isles are reasonably likely to be a selling team at the deadline.
I follow the Isles as a second team and I don’t think they will approach the season that way, especially with a new coach. Even if they end up being sellers, they won’t be looking to trade Horvat because they see him as a mentor for Schaefer. They allowed Lee to move on, and if winning the Nystrom award is a bit of a hint, it is likely Horvat gets the ‘C’ that will eventually be passed along to Shaefer once Horvat’s contract is up in 5 years. Even if they opt to give Schaefer the ‘C’ now as the fresh young face of the future, Horvat is still going to have a mentorship role. The Isles may be a couple years away, but they will be pushing to be in the mix, especially while they still have Sorokin performing at his level.
Of course they aren’t going in to the season with the intent of being sellers and moving their pending UFA captain, I get that.
My point was a push back on this “ascending team” which pretty much means every team but the Oilers are “sending” – its literally every team that has legit upside while the Oilers are past their window and aging curves rule all.
Ok. My comment was just related to Horvat (not a pending UFA) & the Isles though. I think Fibs actually made a fair comment in response to Horvat as a target. Whether it was a veiled insult to the Oilers is just noise I choose to ignore.
I was responding to his noise.
I agree that Horvat is not a good target – he’s not close to UFA status and they likely aren’t going to trade him even if they are descending or running in place.
They improved by 10 points last season in a tough division with 18 year old Matt Schaefer leading the way.
It’s a pretty good bet he will improve with experience.
Callum Ritchie and Cole Eiserman are the goods too.
Ascendant.
31 ascending teams and then the Oilers – we get it.
I don’t hate the idea (although don’t think he comes in at $2MM) but also agree to not block Howard and Savoie and give them some runway and “save the powder” from Forsberg or, my new target, Drake Batherson.
If they spend $2MM, it only eats $1MM of cap practically (as someone in the $1MM range would be off the roster) but add that $1MM back if Janmark is on IR (as they’d effectively have 24 players) and if 1-2 more injuries hit, cap space accrual is way down, etc.
Tarasenko is a RW who shoots left, and not the most diligent 200 foot pressure the puck player. So not a good fit for a Babcock team.
Tarasenko is old and slow. Roslovic is neither of those. Tarasenko had a good year last year but has a long injury history as well as questionable effort level. I don’t see room for that player type.
The roster is not fully set, I don’t think anyone has said that. With that said, subject to injuries, we know 3 goalies are set, 10 forwards are set and 7 d-men are set.
I presume that Babcock likely has the 3 other roster spots close to set (be it 3 forwards or 2 forwards and one d-men) but, even if he does, we don’t know who they are. I presume Howard and Joseph are two of them.
I don’t see an outlier like Hutson or Michaels or Stilman winning a job.
Of course, trades can change anything but this is where we are on the current organizational signed players.
I agree. I have been saying all summer that I have no idea how they view Janmark. Perhaps they think he’s washed like many fans and will be waived. Perhaps they see him as finally healthy after playing through injury for 2-years and can help.
With that said, Stauff started talking ALOT about his health being up in the air and I think he’ll start on IR.
One thing we should be dead against is Janmark at center. He is a winger, just like Dach and Frederic. This “can play center” is just like any d-man “can play his off side”.
Copponi is unsigned – not Oilers property
ty. I see he signed with the Marlies.
Shakir M. is a lock – no chance they are putting him on waivers.
I don’t anticipate any PTOs – there is no real time for competition. I heard another GM talking about how short camp is, and with 4 exhibition games and mandated off days even without a short camp, they have like 6 skates.
Babcock will need to use this time to get his combinations finalized and playing with each other and, most importantly, to implement his structure and systems. There will be major changes in the way they play, in all zones and likely all game states but for maybe PP1.
Exhibition games means all but nothing anyways, as far as NHL readiness or ability, we know that. There is no time to play around.
The only need for a PTO is if they need some bodies to play games as vets of 100 games plus can only play 2.
Among the youngish players who aren’t expensive and have NHL experience, Shakir might be an attractive trade chip in a deal for a RH center. That is an area of need.
Why Shakir? The LH spot on defense is well covered, and there are options in Bakersfield in case of injury. Mukhamadullin has trade value. That could come into play this fall.
Walman might be an even better trade chip. Shakir just got here and you want to trade him away already?
Walman has some trade protection.
I forgot about that. I was sending him to the Flyers along with Howard for Tippett & Sealers.
Get it together Cowboy Bill as there’s another Cowboy lurking in the shadows.
I think that’s the part of your list people forget. That while they won’t waive Player X that doesn’t mean Player X won’t be traded or will play in the first 15 games.
When they were looking at signing Andersen, Bowman specifically said that 3 goalies might mean they carry 12 forwards which implies 8 defenceman. Will they all play? Will they get traded? Would they risk waivers? We don’t know yet so we don’t have certainty.
Sure, everything is subject to injuries or “a trade” but I proceed with the organizational depth chart as it is and without presuming any particular player is going to be traded unless there is real intel that such a trade is in contemplation.
I would suspect the chances they trade the newly acquired d-man are very slim.
The shorter exhibition season seems like a good thing after the ridiculous amount of pre-season games the Oilers played last year.
Why, I wonder, did the NHL feel they needed to limit the amount of games veteran players can play?
It’s been the opposite, where the NHL required a certain amount of vets play in pre-season games, just for entertainment value, I think.
The NHL does “things”… but they don’t necessarily improve the game.
It’s an agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA. Vets often don’t like playing preseason games. They know they’ll make the team, they don’t want to get hurt, and they don’t make a ton of difference for them.
I presume they still have the min amount of vets rule for each game.
I think standardizing the amount of exhibition games across the league makes sense. They always has a min (I believe it was 4) but no max – the teams that made money off exhibition games played 8-9 and the others 4. Its good to have this standardized, no?
I guess so, but now the pre-season seems unduly short.
There’s just no pleasing me.
There is always time for competition in camp. You don’t necessarily bring in a PTO with the plan to sign him, for the minimal cost of a per diem for a couple weeks you can bring in a PTO to push your bubble players and evaluate their performance so you can begin to determine an order for in-season call-ups. The PTO is trying to earn a spot/stay in the league, he will give his all and any bubble players should be doing the same, with an added incentive of trying to earn a spot over the PTO.
Yes, the time is short, and must be managed for Babcock/Smith to focus on the certain Oilers and lineups, structure, system, etc. But there can still be an advantage of competition a PTO will bring.
Sure but, for me, with a new coach that is going to be making major changes to the way they play in all zones and games states (but for maybe PP1), and with only a few spots realistically open, its primary to get “the team”, and they know the team but for maybe a spot or two, ready for September 29.