The Jets had something to prove, not so much the Edmonton Oilers.
That said, Edmonton can’t keep losing as it did on opening night to the Jets. The Oil has two highly winnable games coming up against Chicago and Calgary, and the probability of winning might well be higher with a few quick roster moves. That’s one of the things Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch will now be pondering. What to do with the line-up?
Here are three suggestions:
1. Edmonton was vanilla as vanilla could be in the 6-0 loss the Winnipeg Jets. The Oil need some more oomph in the line-up. One quick way to get that is by inserting Troy Stecher.
On merit, Stecher earned the job at Darnell Nurse’s side in preseason. Stecher outplayed both incoming d-men Travis Dermott and Ty Emberson.
Emberson looked nervous in the loss the Jets. He fought the puck. Dermott was a bit better, but was soft on one goal against and failed to impress.
Stecher is just the kind of d-man who might hang in there with Nurse for a few games. He’s a veteran and he’s good with the puck. He’s calm. He’s got some swagger. He also knows how to work with other NHLers, he’s not just guessing. Finally he’s a gritty and aggressive player, even if he’s small by NHL standards. The Oilers could use his feisty play, something that neither Emberson nor Dermott provided against Winnipeg.
The idea would be to play Stecher with Nurse, then put Emberson with Brett Kulak on the third pairing, where there’s less pressure.
2. Move out Corey Perry, then Derek Ryan in the back-to-back games. Both Perry and Ryan got little done against Winnipeg. Both are older players who can use days off. Perry was slow on cutting out a pass on Winnipeg’s back-breaker of a third goal. He should sit first against Chicago, then Ryan can sit against Calgary. It will be keep both players fresh and allow coach Kris Knoblauch to tinker with his line-up.
3. Play Raphael Lavoie. It’s not clear if Lavoie will stick with the Oilers long-term, but before they do anything else with him, why not play him a game or two or three? He played his best streak of hockey for the Oilers in pre-season. He’s a big winger with a great shot. When Perry and Ryan take turns sitting out games on the weekend, how about put in Lavoie and see if he get the job done? Why not give him a final shot to impress here before moving on to other players?
Do those three moves make sense to you? If not, what would you do?