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Information from Oilers camp that defenceman Markus Niemelainen practiced with the membership this morning, then was positioned on waivers at midday for functions of reassignment to Bakersfield. That course of will probably be accomplished on Saturday within the occasion that he goes unclaimed within the waiver course of.
Niemelainen was banged up in preseason and couldn’t be waived whereas injured, so the squad had little selection however to incorporate him on their 21-man season-opening roster. When Mattias Ekholm remained unable to go on Wednesday, the Oil needed to play a person in need of the same old 20-man game-day line-up. So too did their opponents, the Vancouver Canucks, who responded to the adversity in model with a convincing 8-1 win over the Oilers.
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Friday’s apply probably supplied a clue to how the Oilers plan to method the rematch in Edmonton tomorrow evening. The pairing of Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard that performed collectively all through preseason after which struggled mightily in Recreation 1, seems to have been damaged up. This morning Nurse lined up with Cody Ceci, his long-term accomplice on what has been Edmonton’s shutdown pairing for the reason that arrival of Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson a season and a half in the past. Bouchard in the meantime has been re-paired with Ekholm, a really profitable partnership down the stretch final season. Amongst them, that quartet supplied the squad with its strongest high 4 since Oscar Klefbom was wholesome and enjoying.
The (reported) preseason plan to pair Ekholm with fellow Swede Philip Broberg has been mothballed for now, little doubt a direct results of the abysmal efficiency by the defence group as a complete on Wednesday. For Woodcroft and Manson, its already time to go along with what they know versus an experiment that may nonetheless be tried out down the highway.
Right this moment’s transfer of a depth defenceman left the Oilers with eleven forwards, seven rearguards, two goalies, and sufficient cap area so as to add yet one more participant within the $1 million vary. It’s going to virtually absolutely be a ahead, as a 12F /7D / 2G roster is the optimum break up.
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Who may it’s? Centre Lane Pederson and winger Raphael Lavoie had been waived earlier this week when the Niemelainen complication arose, however now that they’ve safely cleared and are within the AHL, the early favorite to grow to be the twelfth ahead is a veteran NHLer who was in camp on knowledgeable tryout.
Adam Erne, 28, is a veteran of seven NHL seasons and 355 video games with Tampa Bay and Detroit. He performed 6 preseason video games for the Oil, scoring 1-0-1 in 75 minutes of motion. That included 12 minutes on the penalty kill, a unit that had its personal struggles on Wednesday in permitting 13 pictures and three objectives in 9½ minutes. Final season he posted 8-10-18 in 61 video games with the Pink Wings, averagin 13:23 per recreation together with 1:37 on the PK. He led all Pink Wing forwards with 160 hits, and his 11.8 hits per 60 had been by a long way probably the most of that group. He’s restricted, however so is the function he’s apt to fill, most just lately occupied by Klim Kostin (now a Pink Wing).
If Erne does signal and gown for Saturday’s recreation, then the Oilers would probably go 12/6, with one in all Broberg or Vincent Desharnais apt to play with Brett Kulak on the third pairing and the opposite watching from on excessive.
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UPDATE 3pm: Oilers signal Adam Erne
It’s official, Adam Erne is an Edmonton Oilers. Not solely will Erne fill the roster spot as soon as held by Klim Kostin, he may also sport Kostin’s outdated #21. In an odd twist, Kostin signed in Detroit for the an identical 2x $2.1 million, one-way pact that Erne beforehand obtained within the Motor Metropolis, whereas Erne will earn the NHL minimal in Edmonton simply as Kostin did a yr in the past.
A excessive second-round decide of the Lightning a decade in the past, Erne made the NHL to remain at age 22, enjoying fourth-line minutes (10:45) throughout three seasons in Tampa after which third-line ice time (13:07) in 4 years in Detroit. In Edmonton he’s extra more likely to wind up a fourth-liner with occasional press field time. His two-way contract standing confirms that nothing is assured.
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