Edmonton Oilers Talk: Day 1 Training Camp Line Combos

Day 1 training camp line combos are out Oilers fans!!! I’ll try and bang this out as fast as possible for ya!

I’ve been hearing that it’s pretty safe to say that the line combinations that you’re about to see are most likely what the Edmonton Oilers will be rolling out when the roster is finalized and the season gets started on Jan.13th against the Vancouver Canucks.

Team 1
RNH-McDavid-Kassian
Nygard-Khaira-Chiasson
Benson-McLeod-Russell

Russell-Barrie
Jones-Larsson
Niemelainen-Stanton

No surprises here with the first line. We did see Coach Tippett roll that one out during the play-ins but it won’t stop many from questioning the decision to move Nuge off of Draisaitl’s line and placing the “Little Kahuna” on McDavid’s wing to start the season at least.

The second line here features Joakim Nygard instead of James Neal. Neal has been deemed unfit to take part in practice. With Neal on the line, it would be another grouping Tippett used during the play-ins. It could be Edmonton’s heavy line they keep around for the post-season when the going gets tough. I mean, if they choose to keep Alex Chiasson around that is.

The third trio here is comprised of the Bakersfield Boys. I think there will be a lot of eyes on these three gentlemen because we’re all waiting to see when local minor hockey hero Tyler Benson is going to finally arrive on the scene, right? In addition to him, Ryan McLeod will be getting a push from the local media and Patrick Russell is one of the coach’s favs, so he should have a pretty good chance at making the team as one of the extra forwards going forward whereas Benson and McLeod are probably taxi squad bound. That said, if neither of them makes the team, they’ll definitely be part of the first line for Jay Woodcroft’s Condors.

The defensive pairs are interesting. We see Kris Russell and Tyson Barrie being paired up as well as Caleb Jones getting the Iron Swede as his partner. Niemelainen and Stanton could end up being Bakersfield’s top-pairing I reckon.

Rusty should be a fine partner for Barrie because in this pairing, he’s the cleanup man, not the puck-mover and at his age, it’s a more suitable role for him anyhow. Larsson will largely play this role with Jones as well.

I’ve got my eye on Mr. Jones. A really good year from him could make Oscar Klefbom truly expendable. The small sample size of stats we have on him is very promising.

Team 2
Ennis-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
Archibald-Turris-Puljujarvi
Quine-Marody-Cracknell
Griffith

Nurse-Bear
Koekkoek-Bouchard
Lagesson-Lennstrom

Team 2’s top line has Tyler Ennis up with Der MVP and Yamo since Kahun isn’t ready to hit the ice yet. If that is the case going into game one versus the Canucks, I wouldn’t be surprised if RNH is reunited with Draisaitl and Yamamoto and Ennis is moved to McDavid’s line.

Now, since Mr. Ennis is up with Leon, his replacement on the next line with Kyle Turris and Pulju is Josh Archibald. I’m very curious if this is something that sticks for short periods of time over the course of the year… The line when Ennis is on it doesn’t really have a physical element to it if you know what I mean and Archie brings that in spades.

Quine, Marody, Cracknell, and Griffith are just here for the experience, in my opinion. Quine will be a regular member of the taxi squad and the rest will be shuffled down to Cali to spend the year with the Condors. Maybe if Cooper Marody shines, he could force his way into consideration for an extended stay with the Oilers but he only had one game over in Europe before getting dinged up and then flying back to Michigan.

The d-pairings on this roster couldn’t be more predictable, eh?

The Koekkoek/Bouchard pair should be something to monitor I believe. Freshly signed Slater Koekkoek could end up being a fantastic mentor for Uncle Evan Bouchard.

Last month, I predicted that Theodor Lennstrom would unseat Kris Russell for a roster spot this season and I still reckon there’s a possibility the Swede could play more regularly, but that was all before Koekkoek was signed too…

Unfit to play: Neal, Kahun, Haas & Shore

Last week, Jason Gregor was saying he heard that one more forward, aside from Gaetan Haas, might miss the start of training camp and it turns out that it’s not just one, it’s two. James Neal and Dominik Kahun.

Devin Shore is just getting into town I assume, so he’s got to go through the quarantine protocols.

What do you think of the lines so far? Would you change any of them if you were running the show?

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Edmonton Oilers Talk: Day 1 Training Camp Line Combos

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