News & Notes Tuesday January 12

Twas the day before the NHL season and all through the league, everyone was put on waivers, even Joakim! Ok the rhyme wasn't good but the facts are all true! Here are the waiver moves that the Oilers did yesterday & today:

・Jujhar Khaira

・Patrick Russell

・Joakim Nygard

・Anton Forsberg

・Alan Quine

Two surprising ones to me are Nygard & Khaira. It looks like those 2 cleared waivers. The only one who was claimed was Anton Forsberg who goes back to Carolina. The 3rd option in net for the Oil now is Stuart Skinner. Skinner who had a .892 sv% last year...IN THE AHL. I know we are all hoping the Ken Holland has some sort of plan with his depth goaltending.

On to the forwards

Khaira really has under performed in his role as a 4th line centre. He is a big body but really never used it when needed. Nygard is a speedy option and I want to think that he will be back up with the team this season.

The Early Lineup

RNH - McDavid - Kassian

Kahun - Draisaitl - Yamamoto

Archibald - Turris - Puljujarvi

Ennis - McLeod - Chiasson

Benson - Shore - Neal

Nurse - Bear

Jones - Larsson

K. Russell - Barrie

Koekkoek - Bouchard

Lagesson - Lennstrom

Koskinen

Smith

If you are wondering where Gaetan Haas is, he has tested positive for the virus. He will miss the opener and most likley more.

This is still early looking at the roster, but I am really liking the top 9 going into the start of the season. The defence is still a question mark but with Barrie involved, the power play will look very good. I mean, the powerplay was tops in the league last year and now you add a powerplay d-man like Barrie and it should only get better! Speaking of defenceman, injured d-man Oscar Klefbom gave an update on his status...

"I wasn't sleeping right. It was a tough way of living my private life. We're looking into options and hopefully, I can get some shoulder surgery done or some kind of release from pain so I can live my private life better." The 27 year old told media.

It will take some time to get used to not seeing Klefbom on the blue line this year and hopefully he will come back next year pain free and better than ever!

Also what will happen in net? Will Tippett run a 1A 1B situation or will he try and run Mikko for an extended period of time? We will have to wait to find that out because we all know, Tip will not tip his hand! In my opinion they should start with Koskinen and role with him. He was the better of the two goalies last year and if his play drops a it, you have a veteran back-up in Smith. Speaking Mike Smith, look at how awesome his mask is for this year.

Super cool tribute to the late Joey Moss on the back plate.

The opponent.

The Canucks have gone through a couple of problems going into the 2021 season including a practice fight! Forwards Adam Gaudette and Tyler Motte got into a fight after a slew foot! They talked to media afterwards and said... "Just trying to bring some intensity to camp... we shared a laugh after, it's behind us now." They also are one of the first teams to (publicly) have a COVID problem in the building. On Sunday they closed the team facilities because of a potential exposure to COVID. That is as detailed as the release was for that one...

The Canucks also placed a few players on waivers including the WAY overpaid Loui Eriksson. He has yet to play up to his Lucic-like contract and has been placed on waivers so we will see if any team take a flyer on him, and his contract!

A lot to get to in such a short time and we will have more about the back to back match-up tomorrow morning! The 2021 season is almost here and I can barely sleep as it is, now it will be even harder!