Medical testing was done yesterday, which means Training Camp properly starts today. The Oilers have a brand new, veteran, coaching staff who are going to want to get the team fully prepared to play their style so this should prove different than the last couple Training Camps.

It’s not overstating things to say that Training Camp under Dallas Eakins was a disaster, especially last season. While most teams were down to their final cuts, the Oilers still had 15 or more extra bodies near the end of last September. The club was still mulling over 4th line options when the regular season began in the 2014-2015 season. This year, McLellan has stated a preference to have his finalized roster (or thereabouts) get at least 2 games in during the preseason schedule.

We should see the club make its cuts relatively quickly as we gear up towards the regular season. That’s not to say, however, that there aren’t going to be hard-fought battles for spots in camp. Even though 1 way contracts will determine the majority of the roster, there is a lot of experimentation with the combinations and a few hyper-talented rookies trying to displace veterans.

FORWARDS

The Oilers come into camp with 33 Forwards. Many are incumbent NHL players, others are prospects trying to carve new places in the organizational depth chart, others still are players on AHL deals who impressed at the Rookie Tournament and earned a shot in Main Camp.

This is roughly the Depth Chart I see (not necessarily the line combinations, we know Hall might be with McDavid), but once we get about halfway down it’s a dog’s breakfast.

Hall RNH Eberle
Pouliot McDavid Yakupov
Draisaitl Lander Purcell
Hendricks Letestu Klinkhammer
Korpikoski Miller Gazdic
Pitlick Yakimov Slepyshev
Chase Platzer Pakarinen
Moroz Khaira Kessy
Winquist Loiseau Christoffer
Rankin Roy Sanford
Hamilton McRae Ford

I purposefully kept the guys on AHL deals further down the depth chart despite the fact that I believe almost all of the young players added to the Condors this summer are better prospects than Moroz or Khaira. Considering their contracts they are the most likely players to be cut first, barring excellent showings in the 1st set of games against the Flames, if they indeed make it that far.

The two biggest (only?) battles that are outwardly visible are for the spots I have occupied by Draisaitl and Klinkhammer.

Klinkhammer’s place in the lineup was put in doubt the second the Oilers traded for Korpikoski. I still don’t have Korpikoski as a lock, though, because he has been objectively terrible for a couple seasons. Even though it should work for him, not against him, the fact that Klinkhammer is cheaper will make it easier for the club to send him down. If I had to place a bet, it would be on Korpikoski to win based on the contract.

Draisaitl’s position is much more interesting. He started the year in the NHL last year but was not successful enough to stay. Some have suggested that under a different coach he might have succeeded but that’s just a hypothetical. He went to the WHL and dominated there, especially in the Playoffs and Memorial Cup. He transitioned from there to a strong development camp then a stronger Rookie tournament. He has a man’s body and obvious skill.

Despite those things some still believe he should play in the AHL to start the year. I don’t know if that kind of thinking makes any sense, it certainly doesn’t take any of the most recent evidence into account. To me it looks like this kid can play and McLellan is going to play him as a “Forward” with Anton Lander. I think his destiny is as LW in the top 6 but with hybrid duties like a Joe Pavelski. However, he needs to keep proving every game that he belongs in the NHL.

DEFENSE

The Oilers have brought 20 Defenders into Camp. This is going to be the most intense battleground of Oiler Training Camp because the club is addled with expensive contracts belonging to players who can only deliver on a fraction of the value. With a couple of highly touted young prospects with pedigree knocking on the door, this is going to get interesting.

Like with the Forwards I’m supplying my best approximation of the Depth Chart. Mileage may vary.

Sekera Schultz
Klefbom Fayne
Niktin Gryba
Ference Reinhart
Nurse Davidson
Hunt Musil
LaLeggia Oesterle
Jones Bear
Gernat Simpson
Leveille Betker

Obvious to anyone who has paid attention, the spot Andrew Ference holds on the roster is tenuous at best. This isn’t the ideal scenario for the team’s Captain. With Reinhart and Nurse knocking on the door, somebody is going to be displaced soon. No matter how good either player is at camp, they still might not crack the roster because it would be too costly to force others down into the AHL.

Ference himself has a No Movement Clause and 2 seasons remaining on his deal. Nikitin is owed 4.5M (!?!) this season, and Gryba was just acquired to be a physical shutdown guy. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room on a part of the roster that is extremely unreliable. That said, injury could open the door for either of Nurse or Reinhart.

The other big question is who will be paired with Sekera. Klefbom and Schultz seems like an obvious pairing, but new coaches will want to make that determination for themselves. That opens the Sekera question quite a bit.

GOAL

The Oilers are bringing in 6 stoppers this fall. 3 will get good looks to earn the spots with the NHL club, 2 are prospects the Oilers will be keeping a keen eye on, and 1 is an AHL stopper used to keep the pressure off the kids.

I don’t think there’s much controversy in this Depth Chart.

Talbot
Scrivens
Nilsson
Brossoit
Laurikainen
Rimmer

Cam Talbot hasn’t been formally gifted the starting role for the Oilers, but he’s really going to have to mess up to lose it. The Battle will be between Nilsson and Scrivens for the backup spot. What happens after that will be interesting because nobody wants to keel 3 goaltenders. It never works.

If I had to guess, Scrivens finds a way to defend his position. After that Nilsson and Brossoit split duties for the Condors and Rimmer backs up Laurikainen in the ECHL.

Talbot was brought in to be the answer in Net. The question exists because Scrivens finished the year with an .890 save percentage. That wasn’t acceptable in the 80’s! When pundits talk about how terrible the Oilers were they almost always get to the goaltending last, but the reality is that it was reason number 1 with a bullet. Let’s see if this has been fixed.

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