This offseason, Edmonton shipped off 2 of their 4 recent #1 draft picks in Nail Yakupov and Taylor Hall. Despite this, they finally find themselves back in playoff contention. The Oilers roared out to a 7-2 start in October, though they have cooled off a bit of late as injuries have started to strike.
A big reason for success? Connor McDavid. He good. The second year centerman is currently leading the NHL in assists and points. On one hand, I’m excited to get a chance to watch him tonight. On the other hand, I’m terrified of my team having to face him.
The most noteworthy recent injury is that defenseman Darnell Nurse is out 12 weeks after ankle surgery. That’s bad news for a blue line corps that must rely now on…Kris Russell? oooooh boy.
Remember that Finnish kid we were SUPPOSED to draft? Well, Jesse Puljujarvi missed the last game with an undisclosed injury. It’s unclear if he’ll be back in the lineup tonight. In 22 games this season, he has just 1 goal and 7 assists. In his last three games he had less than 10 minutes of ice time per game.
On the Columbus side, Captain Nick Foligno should be back in the lineup after missing the last two games with an illness. Oliver BJORKSTRAND will accompany the team on this 3 game Western Canada trip as a spare forward.
Projected Lineups
| Brandon Saad | Alexander Wennberg | Nick Foligno |
| Boone Jenner | Brandon Dubinsky | Cam Atkinson |
| Scott Hartnell | William Karlsson | Josh Anderson |
| Matt Calvert | Lukas Sedlak | Sam Gagner |
| Zach Werenski | Seth Jones |
| Jack Johnson | David Savard |
| Ryan Murray | Markus Nutivaara |
| Sergei Bobrovsky |
| Curtis McElhinney |
| Drake Caggiula | Connor McDavid | Milan Lucic |
| Patrick Maroon | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Jordan Eberle |
| Benoit Pouliot | Leon Draisaitl | Tyler Pitlick |
| Anton Slepyshev | Dearly Missed Mark Letestu | Zack Kassian |
| Kris Russell | Andrej Sekera |
| Oscar Klefbom | Adam Larsson |
| Dillon Simpson | Matthew Benning |
| Cam Talbot |
| Jonas Gustavsson |