Tonight it appears that the Oilers will run the following lines:

Draisaitl - McDavid - Perry
Arvidsson - RNH - Hyman
Skinner - Henrique - Kapanen
Podkolzin - Janmark - Brown
Philp

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Stecher
Kulak - Emberson

Skinner

Lately we have seen a ton of line shuffling from coach Kris Knoblauch. Overall I have no issue with these kinds of shuffles. We have entered the dog days of the season; the long grind up until the trade deadline when things seem to kick off again with new energy. My concerns lie not in the shuffling, but what some of these decisions represent.

In the summer the Oilers signed Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner as free agents. The belief at the time was that Edmonton had just added two legitimate top six wingers, likely to play with Leon Draisaitl, that would give this team the secondary scoring in the top six they were missing a year prior.

Neither player is perfect. At the time of the signings I talked about Jeff Skinner's defensive issues and the health concerns with Viktor Arvidsson - but cited both as reasonable bets that should perform. Here are both players numbers this season.

Jeff Skinner: 46GP 9-8-17
Arvidsson: 37GP 6-11-17

Skinner ranks 6th on the team in goal scoring while Arvidsson ranks 13th. Arvidsson has had ample opportunity in the top six and hasn't produced while Skinner has been used more in a bottom six role and seems to regularly find himself in the coach's doghouse.

The best new addition in the top six for a time was Podkolzin, not for his scoring but strong two way play and being aggressive against the boards. He was a great option to go into the dirty areas and get the puck for Draisaitl but with 6 goals and 19 points on the season, he isn't what most expect out of a top six player.

Tonight we will likely once again see McDavid and Draisaitl together with Perry while RNH centres a second line with Hyman and Arvidsson. It seems like the coach is trying to find some chemistry on a second line without McDavid or Draisaitl on it.

I don't mind the nuclear option from time to time but once the playoffs begin, we have seen what can result from trying to put all your eggs in one basket. McDavid and Draisaitl can absolutely take games over in the playoffs together but if they are shut down the rest of the offense can be lacking.

With the existing roster, I would like to see Henrique and Skinner get time on the wings with McDavid and Draisaitl and then run RNH as a third line centre to try and eat some of the softer minutes.

Henrique-McDavid-Hyman
Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Podkolzin-RNH-Brown
Kapanen-Philp-Perry

Looking for help elsewhere, there aren't many exciting names out there on the trade market that are pure rentals. Jason Zucker is probably the best pending UFA player available; a good player having a good season but also highlights the lack of real top end talent available at the deadline.

I expect more shuffles this week prior to the break for the 4 Nation Faceoff. giving the coaching staff and management a better idea of where the team needs to address the most heading into the deadline.

Thanks for reading.

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