The Edmonton Oilers are preparing for life without Connor McDavid.
With the team confirming earlier today that the Oilers captain would be out for two-to-three weeks with an ankle injury, head coach Kris Knoblauch has gotten to work crafting his lineup without McDavid.
The team is currently on the back half of a four-game road trip and will take on the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. Edmonton was on the ice this morning for practice at Bridgestone Arena, where those new-look lines were shown off.
880 CHED’s Bob Stauffer was the first to report on the McDavid-less lineup.
The @EdmontonOilers in Nashville
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Skinner-RNH-Hyman
Janmark-Henrique-Brown
Caggiula/Ryan-Philp-PerryEkholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Dermott
Kulak-Emberson/StecherPickard (starter’s net)
Skinner— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) October 30, 2024
Leon Draisaitl will obviously pick up the mantle of being the Oilers’ first-line centre in place of McDavid. Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson will flank the German on that line, both of whom are still looking for their first goals of the season.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will then slide back to centre on the second line. This will be a trio we have not seen this season as Zach Hyman slides down and Jeff Skinner will move up to into the top-six. Skinner has looked great early in this season, while Hyman has been absolutely snake-bitten.
The third line will return to a familiar formation as Adam Henrique is reunited with Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown. Those three were lights out together during last year’s playoff run but have had some trouble starting the new season.
Finally, the fourth line has the potential to see a lot of turnover ahead of tomorrow’s game. Noah Philp appears to be set to make his NHL debut as the centreman on that line, while Drake Caggiula and Derek Ryan were taking turns on the left wing. Corey Perry looks like he will draw in as the right wing.
The only change on the blue line appears to be Travis Dermott drawing in on that second pair with Darnell Nurse in place of Troy Stecher. Ty Emberson has looked good on the third pairing with Brett Kulak of late, but he was rotating with Stecher this morning.
Calvin Pickard was set up in the Oilers’ starting net as well, indicating that he may get his fifth start of the season against the Predators. He is coming off an impressive 3-2 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings, in which he stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced. Picks already has one victory over the Predators earlier this season.