Edmonton Oilers Tinker With Lines Amidst Three-Game Skid
The Edmonton Oilers are riding a three-game losing streak after a rather impressive start to the season. In response, they are doing something about it, and it starts with the lineup.
At Friday’s morning skate, the Oilers took the time to tinker with their line combinations. Overall, they look a bit different and could benefit the team later on. Here are the new projected lines at Edmonton’s practice.
New Lines, New Looks
Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Forwards:
Benoit Pouliot-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Jesse Puljujarvi
Patfick Maroon-Connor McDavid-Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic-Leon Draisaitl-Zack Kassian
Anton Lander-Mark Letestu-Tyler Pitlick/Anton Slepyshev
Defense:
(Per Twitter, unconfirmed)
Darnell Nurse-Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom-Kris Russell
Andrej Sekera-Eric Gryba
Takeaways
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These lines are decent. Puljujarvi definitely deserves a promotion to the top six, and perhaps he can create strong plays alongside Nugent-Hopkins and Pouliot. Lucic has been demoted to the bottom six, and rightfully so. Of late, he has seemed sluggish and slow at times and doesn’t have the best chemistry on the top line.
However, Eberle has not impressed either, yet remains with McDavid. Maroon moved up to take Lucic’s place, and hopefully, they’ll create some kind of chemistry with a new winger. In my opinion, Puljujarvi would be the perfect candidate alongside McDavid, but for now, he will get his time with Nugent-Hopkins.
In addition, the defensive pairings are different, and look a bit more unique. Nurse is reportedly on the top pairing alongside Larsson. While I’m not thrilled that Todd McLellan has separated the Swedish duo, this is an intriguing combination. Both Nurse and Larsson possess great size and physicality, and also have strong puck possession stats this season.
In the end, putting these big bodies together could create a rough-and-tumble pairing up front that not only brings size but underrated point shots and puck-moving ability.
As for Sekera moving down to the bottom pairing, I agree with the move. He has struggled of late and has not proven to do well alongside Russell. Therefore, Klefbom and Russell will likely have better luck as a shutdown pairing. Though Gryba has been solid so far, Matthew Benning was impressive in his two games with the Oilers (except that last minute against NY).
Hopefully, the Edmonton Oilers will have a new look – and hopefully a new result –in Saturday’s matchup against the New York Islanders.
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