Edmonton Oilers Talk: Turris, Benson, Sceviour, and the Latest NHL Rumors

This is your TL/DR (too long, didn’t read) summary post where excerpts are taken from the best of the best when it comes to Edmonton Oilers blogs. BLH gives you his two cents on the latest posts being published in the Oilogosphere! Including those from Lowetide.ca, The Athletic, Oilersnation, The Cult of Hockey, Copper N Blue, Oil on Whyte, and more!

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Edmonton Sun

Veteran Kyle Turris looks to bounce back for Oilers after humbling season

last season was painful, also humbling. He went on waivers, he went to the taxi-squad, he played only nine of the last 33 league games, including back-to-back games against Winnipeg where he played 6:53 and 7:21.
He only averaged 12 minutes a game with two goals and those five points.
If he makes this team, it will be as fourth right-winger after Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto and Zack Kassian. Or, as a 13th or 14th forward.
The game is extremely quick and very young now and Turris is neither, just turned 32 last month. But he is still smart and is motivated, and over the summer he was at Rogers Place often working with fitness coach Chad Drummond on the things he absolutely needed to.

“I worked with Chad every day … he was great. Worked on my strength, my explosiveness. Putting on strength in my butt and legs. I’ve noticed changes in my body and I feel really good,” said Turris

With Derek Ryan and McLeod as the No. 3 and No. 4 centres on the depth chart, there is no room for Turris there, which is why he’ll have to make the team as a winger.

BLH’s Thoughts: Turris’ problem last year, to my eyes, was that he seemed to be a step behind the play and he didn’t have any confidence.

That said, at the end of the year after being sat for quite a while, I noticed a renewed effort in his game. He seemed to be more tenacious on the puck and there was more pep in his step.

I’m thinking he bulked up and got a bit stronger knowing that he’ll be used on the wing primarily in 2021-22 and he’ll need that to be more useful in the muck. There are question marks surrounding the availability of Josh Archibald and if he’s absent this year, Turris may very well step in on that 4th line with Ryan McLeod and Tyler Benson (or Devin Shore).

The Cult of Hockey

Edmonton Oilers have plenty of depth at the “depth winger” spot, but who will rise to the top?

…the competition is fierce for spots on the fourth line, especially in the continuing absence of Josh Archibald who continues to skate on his own as both he and the team try to come to terms with his status as the lone unvaccinated NHL regular in Canada.
Turris had gotten some kudos on this front (off-season training) over the summer, and backed that up by ranking in the “top three or four” in Wednesday’s off-ice fitness testing as per Tippett.
In a similar vein Benson posted by far his best results to date in his sixth Oilers training camp, some of the priors having been hampered by lingering health issues
On the ice Benson had a second straight good day, playing a prominent role in Team Blue’s 5-2 triumph over Team White in the first full scrimmage of camp.
Turris looked good in the drills, himself drilling a couple of excellent shots that rippled the twine. He’s been keeping his feet moving, and the puck moving too. I’ve seen him as engaging in the puck battles, but not winning quite enough of them, an observation that carried right on into the scrimmage.
The other right-shot winger who is somewhere in the mix is Colton Sceviour.
Sceviour caught my eye on one sequence where he made a good play in the neutral zone to gain the red line and dump the puck in deep, then another to win the race to it in the corner. But it came undone quickly when he his blind backhand pass up the boards led to a jailbreak the other way.
Benson is in a multi-way battle with Devin Shore and Brendan Perlini. They are currently teamed up on a line with Turris, an interesting trio of proven but flawed NHL veterans.

BLH’s Thoughts: The line of Foegele, Ryan, and Yamamoto shone at the scrimmage yesterday and that’s news to my ears. I’ve been championing that line combination all summer and I just feel like Killer and McLovin’ combined with Ryan or McLeod will form one of the best 3rd lines in the NHL.

I thought it interesting to hear Jason Gregor say that Benson is outworking Cooper Marody, but I’m not shocked. Marody’s work rate simply isn’t where it needs to be for a professional hockey player that wants to play in the NHL. This guy should be going balls to the all on every shift, doing whatever he can to impress the coaches so that he can get an extra day in the main camp when others are being sent to Bakersfield.

That said, it was only day two of TC yesterday and there’s still time to get in some good performances in the exhibition games coming up this week.

Spector’s Hockey

STLTODAY.COM: Jim Thomas reports Vladimir Tarasenko said little about his tumultuous offseason in which he requested a trade from the St. Louis Blues during an interview yesterday.

“I don’t see any reason to discuss it now,” said Tarasenko. “Camp starts. I don’t want to be a distraction in the room. I’m here to work. I’m healthy, I’m happy to play hockey again.”

TSN: Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas shot down trade speculation about Ilya Mikheyev on Wednesday. Asked about Mikheyev’s trade request, Dubas said the 26-year-old winger was going to be on the team “and is going to be a big part of the team.” He referred questions about the trade request to Mikheyev’s agent.

TSN’s Shawn Simpson recently speculated Logan Brown could be plucked off waivers by the Arizona Coyotes if things don’t work out for him with the Ottawa Senators. He spent the summer in Arizona and is close with Coyotes stars Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun.