Darnell Nurse

Edmonton Oilers Recall Taylor Beck to Spark Offense

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:52 a.m. ET

Fansided, Sammi Silber/FanSided via Oil On Whyte

The Edmonton Oilers recalled Taylor Beck from Bakersfield Thursday, hoping his presence will add some spark to the struggling offense. They also reassigned Anton Slepyshev to the Condors.

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Beck is one of the hottest players in the AHL right now and leads the league with 30 points and 21 assists in 19 games. He’s also a plus-11 and has been one of Bakersfield’s biggest assets this season.

Edmonton signed Beck to a one-year, two-way deal days into free agency to give them more winger depth down the lineup. Last season, the 25-year-old posted 17 goals and 34 points in 50 AHL games with Bridgeport and San Antonio.

With Beck in the lineup, the Oilers will hopefully get more of an offensive push, all while rewarding a player who has defied expectations in the minor leagues.

The Replacement

Slepyshev is the Oiler that gets the demotion to the AHL to allow for Beck’s recall, after posting just two goals and five points through 28 NHL games. General Manager Peter Chiarelli speculated that Jesse Puljujarvi could see time in the minors given his poor start, but it looks like he will stay for a bit longer.

Hopefully, the Oilers don’t need to rely on Beck to bring the offense back but can just get a spark from his effort and determination. Given the recent struggles surrounding core forwards like Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton needs to find their scoring touch again.

Edmonton has spent too much time trying to make highlight-reel plays when they should just shoot. When they do get fortunate bounces, they become lazy with their leads. Not to mention, their shooting has been off-the-mark of late. In order to score more goals, they will need to work on hitting the net first.

Overall, Edmonton needs a spark, and hopefully, this change ignites it.