One thing we must give Stan Bowman credit for 14 months into his time as Edmonton Oilers general manager: the man can acquire talent using nothing but a 12 inch strip of rebar and a sun dried tomato.
The king of the hill in this area (Oilers division) was Glen Sather. The man found quality players across the hockey world. Names like Craig MacTavish, Craig Muni and others were picked up when their value was at a low ebb, and saw their careers spike in a big way. Not every deal worked out, but Sather loved getting hockey players in search of redemption and it played out well in Edmonton often.
Bowman has acquired two interesting pieces in recent days using a 6 inch strip of rebar and a mouldy sun dried tomato. We have zero idea how much Connor Ingram or Jack Roslovic will impact the 2025-26 edition of the Edmonton Oilers, only that opportunity is knocking.
Roslovic has the skill to play on a feature line, and represents the third most proven goal scorer available to Kris Knoblauch on right wing. Per 82 games during their careers, Zach Hyman (29 goals), Andrew Mangiapane (20 goals), Roslovic (16 goals), Kasperi Kapanen (14 goals), Trent Frederic (13 goals) and Vasily Podkolzin (10 goals) represent the possible wingers in play for the top two lines this season (along with rookie Matt Savoie and Ike Howard). Roslovic comes out at the high end of the list, and there’s no doubt he could cash on a skill line with the Oilers. Great bet by Bowman.
Ingram is a different bet in that his bona fides run in place with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard (detailed here) and are less of a guarantee than Roslovic (who I think we can agree would score more goals than Frederic on the top line). No matter, Ingram is an excellent bet, and we’ll see how he shines for the Bakersfield Condors. I think we can agree Bowman will be looking to improve the situation in goal by the deadline.
The Roslovic addition is going to impact the roster, and that means at least one good player will be in the pressbox this season. Since estimating roster depth via lines and pairings is a time honored tradition for hockey fans, here’s my attempt to make sense of a crowded house:
- Mangiapane-McDavid-Hyman
- Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Roslovic
- Frederic-Nuge-Savoie
- Howard-Henrique-Tomasek
The coaching staff could slide (say) Kapanen in place of one of the rookies if they’re struggling, and Philp could spell Henrique if he continues to struggle offensively. The Oilers are getting more interesting by the day.
On the Lowdown today (noon to 2pm) we’ll talk Oilers, Elks, Jays, NFL weekend. It’s going to be a big weekend in sports and we have it all covered. Steve Lansky is the feature guest, we’ll have Declanations top five and more. Sports 1440 and You Tube.
Will Connor McDavid win a Stanley Cup before age 30? There’s a lot of work to do around him.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6643040/2025/10/10/connor-mcdavid-contract-oilers-roster/
Crosby won at 22, 29 and 30. Here’s hoping Connor can as well
Summarizing!
The only resoupient tonight was Fischer with a PP goal.
Everyone else must subsist on burnt minute steak instead.
NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY THE JAYS!!
I wanna wake up tomorrow morning and see the game in the 38th inning, and the managers having to take the mound.
This is a great damn ballgame but I don’t know how many pitchers are left on each side!
Subsequent relievers will be drawn, lottery-style, from current season ticket holders.
Gibson pulled after 8 shots, and Thoroughly Mediocre Coach melts down in the post game presser after the home opener.
Yzerplandermonium.
Gibson gave up 5 goals on 13 shots and was pulled after playing 37:12
More from Keith Gretzky
Leppanen will play with Dineen (Dinnen will play the right side).
Marjala will center Griffith and Hutson.
Samanski will center the other top six line with Jones and Pitlick (Rhett) and PK.
Both Millman and Prokop will play tomorrow as they have some injuries (I believe that’s Carfgna still (hurt when up here) and Akey, who didn’t play last weekend due to injury – sigh).
Wild to see Marjala and Samanski lining up as the top two centers… it’s almost like that Bowman fellow knows a thing or two.
Exciting times!
Hamblin at 3C I presume.
Ingram still getting up to speed – they hope to have him playing lots within a couple of weeks.
He won’t play this weekend (they only have one game) but may the weekend after (or the one after that).
Trying to read up on Jack R (which isn’t easy to do apparently) he seems to be more of a Warren Foegele type player than Jeff Skinner. About the same size, quicker skating than Skinner, Foegele’s age and almost identical goal production, more a bottom 6 player NHL career wise
He has lower PIMs than either, so we’ll see how tame he is. He played on a line with Matthews and Tkachuk for the US team. I think Bowman’s hope is he can find his higher end game with skill. If he can’t stick there I suppose he offers more bottom 6 offense than Philp Lazar Janmark, but if he can’t PK may be in some trouble
If he can get hot you would think he would be considered for the U.S.A Olympic Team.
The U.S. didn’t take Tage Thompson to the Four Nations and scratched Kyle Connor in the finals – both poor decisions but I think Roslovic has about as much a chance at the US Olympic team as Adam Henrique does the Canadian.
https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1976126071612297665?s=46
I am curious to see what Jack brings.
I’ve seen some describe him as a poor man’s Jeff Skinner. Still a guy who scored 22 goals last season from the bottom six at $1.5 m cap is intriguing.
I’m not sure how JFresh arrives at these conclusions.
A guy who scores 2.0 ESP/60 is 36% EV offense?
A guy who consistently has a positive CorsiRel is a 12% EV defense?
Jeff Skinner has averaged 23 ES goals per 82 games with more ice time than Roslovic. Roslovic sounds to me like a regular old Jeff Skinner, but 5 years younger.
Difference is this Rosiovic can skate a lot faster and is much stronger on his skates
His even strength rels were not great last year. This is where the lower percentile JFresh numbers are coming from. Seems like he might have some of the traits that caused J. Skinner to not be well received by Knoblauch.
His most common linemates were Aho, Svechnikov, Kotkaniemi and Jarvis so I wouldn’t say his production came from the bottom six. He did led the Canes in 5 on 5 goals and 5 on 5 points. I am not concerned that his production didn’t come from the bottom six as I would hope he plays in the top six, given his skill-set.
Stauffer and Curlock were saying he’s a good fit for the top-6 and might displace Savoie.
After 4 showers now that I have the stench of the Flames off of me any news on the starter for tomorrow? I guess will find out in the morning skate tomorrow. I sure hope he starts Pickard as we need the points. Pickard was sharper in preseason. Also please give Howard a push because this kid is ready to pop his top. I can’t wait ti see his Goal celebration tomorrow. Booook It……..
Still only game two. I run Skinner back. Gotta see if he can settle in or team can settle on a starter in the early going.
I think it’ll be Pickard until he loses.
I don’t think I knew this but, per Mike Griffith’s blog on the Condors, Keith Gretzky signed a 3-year extension this off-season. Good stuff.
It is very generous of you to keep us so well informed. Seriously, I appreciate all the unique updates and info. Thank You
ditto.
I wonder if the SanJose Goalie got as much heat from his fans as Skinner always gets from his ..I bet not
https://clutchpoints.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights/golden-knights-news-bruce-cassidy-hockey-gods-quip-sharks
San Jose doesn’t have any fans.
Average attendance last season was 14,219 which is pretty good for a brutally bad team.
Yeah I don’t mind sharks fans. Their local coverage pretty good.
Wonder if the lauded John Gibson is getting it after giving up 5 and being pulled in his first game with his new team…?
5 goals on 13 shots.
I think it’s foolish for any of us to judge Gibson or Skinner (3 goals on 22 shots) or wunderkind Wolf (5 goals on 26 shots v Canucks) or any of Binnington, Sorokin, Oettinger, Kuemper, Hill on the basis of even a handful of early season games. But where there are fans… and because a whipping boy is needed… there will be foolishness. Praise be that the GM seems to be immune.
Are fans judging Skinner on one game or are they judging him on a pattern, on his history?
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s duck. That is unless you just fell off the turnip truck.
That I don’t know @Sierra. What I do know is that we’re only 65 minutes into the season and the wind of ill-will is blowing hard.
It isn’t “ill will” its fandom and there wouldn’t be places like this on the internet without it. Silly that it even bothers posters on a site like this.
I think it’s possible to express frustration without being an ass about it. I have to delete very few posts, though, that is a tribute to the posters here.
Truth be told, the top line, with Frederic were dominant on Wed. They gave up nothing (not a single high danger shot attempt against), were 1-0 goals and near 90% expected goals.
Frederic doesn’t look like a great fit there – so far doesn’t make plays at speed consistently enough and isn’t sure handed but, at the same time, if they are sticking with load-up for now, the trio dominated last game.
They do need the Nuge line better at 5 on 5 (the Henrique line also gave up nothing and played against the flames top line quite a bit).
It’s look to me like Frederic opens up the ice a bit for Connor and Leon. If he continues to work the boards and go to the net with his stick on the ice he hopefully becomes a human Vaxuum as he has shown in the past to have not bad hands.
Temu Tom Wilson
Don’t remember if it was Jason Strudwick or Rob Brown who said it, but one of them made a comment that they thought Frederic may not be being used to his strength on the top line. That he’s better suited for puck retreival and banging bodies where playing with 29 & 97 is more about having puck possession.
And everyone did comment about Frederic’s hands – not being able to take passes from them.
It’s been 4 games (1 regular season, 3 pre-season) but if it’s going to click, you’d like to see it start to happen soon.
Don’t worry, he’s signed for 652 more games. Lotsa time to develop hands!
And we thought Foegele had stone hands.
I liked the Brownie take (I believe it was him, supported by Strudwick). Especially with this player seen as somewhat of a response to Perry, Kane moving on. He may be happier and more useful where he gets to do what he does best.
100%
Roslovic passed his physical but won’t play tomorrow – coach wants to get him a few more skates.
Nurse is sick but expected to play.
We know Walman won’t play but he was on the ice today – trending will for Tuesday I presume.
With all this talent around could Henrique find himself in the press box. He doesn’t want to be traded but I dont think he can keep up to the pace this team is going to play at. It will be an interesting next 60 days especially when Hyman comes back .
I have a feeling that he’ll end up with a West Coast team before Christmas unless he gets it going. I thought we had the 3rd line Centre (Stall) that wins Cups but for some reason he just isn’t good a good fit with the Oil.
Holland is lurking
Henrique’s role is definitely shifting, and he’s definitely over-priced for the role he’s been asked to play now but he had a very solid game in the role he was given on Wed. His line gave up zero high danger attempts while playing over four minutes against the Coronato line and Henrique was the 2nd higher PK forward on the team next to Drai.
Its not ideal at his price point (although his price point isn’t that high any more) but he did the job asked in game 1.
Yes but unlike previous years he will have a lot of young fast talent snapping at his heals .
It will be interesting to see if he can keep it up (assuming good health ) all year .
I love this type of procurement. Why? Good question. Perhaps it’s because I grew up during the Glen Sather era. What a legend.
The NHL is a funny league. Remember when Arizona was paid a 2nd round pick to acquire Shayne Gostisbehere back in June of 2021 from the Flyers?
My take at the time was that we should have taken him instead of the Keith deal. The Ghost is still playing on ostensibly the third pair for the Hurricanes. Pretty good hockey team. Arizona had traded him for a third, taking two draft picks overall for having him briefly.
Then we have a repeat when Steve Yzerman paid a second to trade Jake Walman. The Sharks walked away with a 1st and a second round pick for holding that contract.
For a game with hockey men who’re paid millions of dollars per year. There’s a lot of deals that crop up.
Stan. I’m a fan of your recent talent procurement.
The Walman deal is very reminiscent of the Colorado acquisition of Devon Toews when the Avalanche sent 2 second rounds picks to the Islanders.
Identifying under valued assets is a great strategy.
Excellent take on the comparison.
Nights in White Satin.
— Will reserve judgment on the flurry of moves and acquisitions for at least a few months
— while they are clearly different approach to previous regimes there’s a lot of projection for the magic beans being slotted into roles we dont know how they do.
— hope it works out of course: only results matter no matter what I (or others)think with my limited knowledge on whether they are good “bets” or not
— So I give no props at this stage : props come based on how howard tomasek ingram savoie Frederic regula Roslovic kapenen et al actually do. Hope some of them really pan out.
— when I looked at the jays at the start of season their Barger clement Schneider straw fluharty fisher etc weren’t screaming contenders.
— then Kirk springer have career years yesavage saves season out of no where.
— so yeah lots need to go right for a bunch of oilers we can’t rate high now unless just extreme homers :
— but jays believed in themselves, clearly coached up and different hitting approach and a bunch of players exceeding expectations
— oilers of course better foundation than jays a year ago. Oil need a bunch of guys to step up get coached up and a few surprises IMO
I loved Robbie Alomar and the rest of the gang in the early 90’s. I would say this is the best BlueJay experience because they’re Blue Collar grunts over achieving as a team. Everybody loves a underdog story especially Yestervage pitching like Bob Gibson. I’m cheering for Detroit but I think we’re going to see a cross country match with the Mariners.
Knoblauch has a lot of good hockey players to work with. As I see it this forward group has more range than the last couple of seasons, which makes it easier on the coaches
The question is does he have the chops at this point to put in the right system for them, and get them playing their best games? This is the issue with green coaches at this level for a team in the Oilers position. His growing pains are counterproductive. Maurice has 28 seasons as an NHL HC
There is no reason I can see that they can’t have 1 or 2 great regular season lines and 2 good ones, based on the players available
Oilers should be coming at the opposition in waves but once you let in a couple of scratchy goals the game plan is out the window.
I agree, have been saying that for a while. The lesser lines should be able to apply a lot of pressure and get some goals, pressure being the main thing
This is becoming Bowman’s team fast moving roll the lines get the puck up ice quick. The only thing missing is Niemi and I think that could be Ingram when he’s up and running. Pickard can play the Huet roll. Competent netminding Ingram what I’ve seen is a steady eddy nothing flashy sv % above .900 he doesn’t need 4 shutouts in a row to get to the average joe mark. At some point this season I think the Sailboat will be carrying Kulak-Philp-Janmark-Kapenen-Skinner.
They were coming in waves yesterday but the game changed when (1) a terrible decision by a d-man to try a fancy move on a 1 on 3 that had the puck going the other way and a his teammates scrambling plus (2) a bad neutral zone penalty by an old rookie that allowed the NHL to “not make the right call.
Listening to interviews with Canuck players they said Foote ran a balls to the wall training camp. Foote knows the importance of gathering early points especially with the condensed season. Oilers better be aware from the opening whistle this is better team than Calgary.
There has been so much going on, Frederic has not gotten much attention.
So far, I’m still waiting to see this player at least start to blossom.
Maybe against the Nucks.
I imagine he’s feeling intense internal pressure playing alongside the best 2 players in the world, he’s trying to not cost them while being slotted in a position he’s never before found himself in.
The Oilers to my eye are trying to mold a value version of Tom Wilson, which I don’t hate and hope they have success with the baking.
MacT said he doesn’t see a top 6 player. You never know, but Patty M was kind of a rare beast. He had some hands in tight and didn’t have to do much else than be a fearsome distraction. We’ll see if Trent has them
Giving him a chance is fine, maybe he’s Wilson 2.0 non volleyball, as is him being a heavy weight that can help a solid third line. They would benefit from 4 lines that can push in their own way
That’s some outside of the box thinking by Bowman. A NMC for Roslovic that expires November 1. I cannot recall seeing anything like this before.
https://oilersnation.com/news/jack-roslovic-contract-edmonton-oilers-curious-trade-clause
Kinda neat.
Per Gregor:
I don’t think that I’m the only one wondering why KK is sticking with that Number 1 Line.
I do agree.
But willing to be patient. If this helps players develop and succeed without help of MVP players, okay, show me.
Later spread the talent and……
I assume this is the plan. I hope this is the plan. I hope there is a plan.
Walman rotating in is a positive development
Yes, he was also on the ice for the team at morning skate on Wed. Won’t play Saturday (no eligible as he’s on IR) but trending well for Tuesday I would think.
Nurse is sick but expected to play tomorrow.
The tool chest Knoblauch has at his disposal is borderline ridiculous, even without Hymen back. There is zero reason to play the Glimmermans together. Full stop.
IMHO, there is zero chance this roster misses the playoffs short of catastrophic injuries happening, as such, Philp, Savoie and Howard should all be getting reps to help prepare them for the playoffs.
This team is stacked with talent, and in addition to that it’s versatile with a plethora of players that can play wing and center and suddenly we have the ability to have handedness balance on all lines.
I’d love to see at some point.
Howard Mcd Hymen
Podz Drai Savoie
Mangie Nuge Roslovic
Frederic Philp Tomasek
This was the absolute perfect transaction by Bowman. Despite all the scream to claim Ingram off waivers, Bowman knew that was not a feasible move – The $1.95MM cap hit was a non-stater and not having the ability to send him to the AHL (without waivers) was a non-starter (and having an $800K dead cap hit if we did clear waivers).
The trade with retained money to take away any dead cap hit which, by the way, would be counted on the playoff cap, after having cleared waivers was perfect.
Ingram has the legit ability to, not just battle Skinner for the 1A starts, but win that battle. His peak seasons are right there with Skinners’s, even a bit better. He missed most of last year and had no training camp – he’s going to take time to get up and running but the best is perfect – high upside, absolutely zero risk except for Nathanial Day’s playing time to start.
Of note, Ingram didn’t play in either Condor exhibition game last weekend – I have no idea if he starts tomorrow, the next game or if he’s weeks away.
LT, no idea if that references anything real Sather may done, but you win the “Most Imaginative Hockey Writing of the Month” award (🥇 gold) for that opening paragraph.
ps. If Sather ever used rebar and sun dried tomatoes in his procurement, tell me more.
I think it’s a riff from the Stan Weir “legend tales” that used to be joked about on here – Stan Weir scored an 18 at golf using a piece of rebar & sun dried tomato.
Thank you
Canucks are playing well and it seems like Demko is healthy again. Boys will be in real tough tomorrow night.
Flames were on the second half of a back-to-back and gassed. I wouldn’t take that much from last night’s game.
If I were a Flames fan and my team was gassed from playing game 1 of the regular season and flew 2 hours to play a game the next night, I would be a little concerned.
Flames are said to have little faith in their backup goaltender, Devin Cooley, and played Wolf back to back.
Cooley is 27 but has appeared in only 6 NHL games with and .870 and 4.98 save percentage.
Word is they are desperately looking for another goaltender.
Pretty risky move having no protection for Wolf. I could see them tanking If they fall out of the race. Conroy Is building for the new rink opening in a few years he needs 1-C which are only available usually top 7 They do have Vegas first rounder as well as their own. The Monahan Fuk-up was huge I thought Holland would be all over him in a sneaky 3 way deal instead Holland blew his 2 first rounders and then some for Bumstead and Henrique.
Very strange that the Flames didn’t acquire a backup before the season started.
Their #3 and #4 prospects are nowhere near close.
Savoie & Philp have paid their dues and are ready.
Tomasek looks to be a keeper along with Regooola.
The ranks have been infiltrated.
Prospectasbord!
It’s a Full House Friday, as the complete septet of healthy NAmateurs is on display ce soir. In an interesting scheduling quirk, they are all on the road.
Lewandowski is finding the scoresheet with German efficiency of late, racking up eight points (2 + 6) his last two games.
Wakely is averaging two points per game for his collegiate career. Has played just one game though.
Bauer is the only healthy NAmateur yet to post a crooked number. Will he do so tonight? All will be revealed by day’s end.
Michigan (Park, Barnett) @ 5 p.m.
UMass-Lowell (Wakely) @ 5 p.m.
St. Thomas (Berry) @ 6 p.m.
Saskatoon (Lewandowski) @ 7 p.m.
Kamloops (Lafreniere) @ 7 p.m.
Notre Dame (Fischer) @ 8 p.m.
All times, at all times, are Poplar Bay time.
many, many fun times in Poplar Bay! I always look forward to see where you set your clock Tarkus
It’s beginning to look like the same old story, coach like vets. The writing might be on the wall for young Howard. There’s no way they will want to see him toiling on the fourth line, he might as well play top line minutes with the Condors.
The other thing that might be interesting is the deployment of Adam Henrique, if he’s not getting ice time he may want to play elsewhere. Or maybe a fourth line with ( Henrique-Philp-Tomasek/ Kapanen)
Bowman is sending Henrique south California postcards, anonymously.
I’m also sending Henrique the same postcards, as Bowman.
Start doing Californian real estate searches on his phone during games so that all his adds come up California.
Don’t get me wrong I like Henrique. He can easily finish off his contract with the Oil.
I have nothing against him, he’s just overpaid to be a 4th liner on the cap tight team pushing for glory.
He had a great post trade deadline run, and that’s been pretty much it.
Roslovic will wear Bill Huard’s #28.
Interestingly, as OP pointed out elsewhere, Hutson wore that in preseason, so looks like he gave it up for Roslovic to wear on the big team (numbers are the same between AHL & NHL).
I believe Hutson just changed his Condors’ number, I think to 23.
I believe the org wants them to have the same numbers for each level, to the extent possible.
Wow, Janmark Philp Kapanen
That could be a legit 3rd line, tough competition.
A good 4th line, a DOD era second line.
That could be a legit 5th line, right – all three players scratched at time over the last couple of years – two of them in the AHL at times, one of them claimed on waivers at $1MM cap hit.
Other than not matching the offer sheets I can’t find much of a nit to pick. Hard to blame Bowman entirely but I would have matched.
It seems like there’s a more proactive approach rather reactive. The latter being a staple of bad management in my opinion.
Agreed on proactive. As for the sheets, that was a future cap decision. He had no idea Connor was going to do what he did and he needed to be in a position to pay him, and while Holloway’s sheet contract wasn’t too much, it’s his next one that would be a problem for the Oilers. He also was hamstrung by Jackson’s new signings and movement clauses. Bro was long gone before Stan showed up
There is also that perhaps Bowman wasn’t that high on DH, who knows. I would have done the same thing given the circumstances. I was impressed that he got extra from Armstrong
Broberg offer sheet was unmatchable so it was only the Holloway offer sheet. The uncertainty around Kane made it a very difficult choice
They could have matched. Just would have meant sending Kulak or something down the road.
That would still be 2 mil short of covering the Broberg contract alone. Everyone else had NMC. The only person you could have moved is Ekholm and they werent going to do that
I remember them having the flexibility to match at the time. With no wiggle room left.
Bowman knew how easy it would be to replace Holloway & Broberg and that’s exactly what he did. Let the by gone be gone.
Not buying that, it cost a first for Wallman. Would have been much better to keep Broberg.
Is it better to keep a guy that wanted out multiple times compared to one that wants in?
Walman matches the group much better as far as vibes go.
Regula has a bit of the Broberg skill, a couple of strides and he’s all alone with the puck making an outlet pass.
Since the post is about GM performance I’d say, as far as asset managing, it is much better.
I wouldn’t have expected Broberg on the team long term either way.
Except I would much much rather have Walman.
I like Walman but hard to pick him over a 24 yo D in the long term. Now I do think that this offseason getting him signed would have been much much more difficult than the Walman contract. Think 8*9.5
Bowman had just started the job he had no time to evaluate every player and I’m sure he was trusting his colleagues who in place.
Bowman is a quick study without a doubt.
That’s why I said it was hard to blame him entirely.
Armstrong laughing now but he’s going to pay a price from other G.M’s just like Lowe did for years.
With Bowman’s eye for talent, and he was definitely following the Oilers to some degree I’m sure he had some of his own thoughts on Broberg.
Could you imagine growing up as Scotty Bowman’s Son. He was in the Habs dressing room and at the rink full time. Is it any wonder he has a eye for talent. I really love his little deals we have not heard the last of Jarventie and Regula-Ingram could turn into pure Gold.
We will see what Saturday brings. The canucks popped 5 5v5 on the flames. The lads better be prepared to play
If they lose that one, and depending how, if Bowman wasn’t the GM I would be pessimistic about the end goal already. But he is, so I’m not pessimistic based on his work so far, and he’s not dusting old books off in his office talking about fishing
It will be a ride, this season. I hope he can get them up to the level they should be at having the talent that they do. I also think that he will do whatever he thinks is necessary, which can be hard on some players and coaches, but really is what should happen – always try to get better
I remember saying last season ” It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish “.
Unless you miss the Playoffs by 1 point or burn yourself out trying to make it. It’s important to bank wins early you never know what the injury bug will be and with the condensed schedule (Olympics) injuries will magnify.
I can’t see them not making the playoffs & I like their depth.
For me it’s developing their 5v5 game and taking it up a notch or two. They need to play their system better to win in the finals, no passengers and no opting out, it won’t work. Hasn’t worked
They’re good at 5vs5 , they need both special teams operating at elite levels.
Lines look good for later on. But, until Hyman returns I would move Tomasek up to the right side of 97 to add some size to the 1st line and then add Philp to the 4th line. Philp can take offside faceoffs to increase the chances of puck possession.
IF, and we don’t know what we don’t know, Henrique falters in any way, move Philp to 4C and bring in Kapanen for R4 duty.
They might even give Roslovic a shot with Connor & Leon until Zach returns. Freddy can play on that hard to play against 3rd line. I do like Tomasek up there too. So many options.