BLOG: Competition at Camp creating hard questions that need answers

SEATTLE, WA – With only three pre-season matches remaining, time is running out for Head Coach Jay Woodcroft and Oilers management to find the answers to all the questions they have left to solve before their exhibition schedule concludes this weekend and the regular season begins on Oct. 11 in Vancouver.

“Preseason is about a little bit of experimentation as much as anything… We'll see how it shakes out. That’s the best part about preseason,” Woodcroft added.

Monday night’s pre-season tilt at Climate Pledge Arena against the Kraken will be the next opportunity for the Oilers coaching and management staffs to gather valuable information on a handful of players who are competing for opening-night roster spots, while for those players themselves looking to stick in the lineup, the time to make an impact and impression is slowly dwindling.

“Our goal is to make sure our people are feeling good on opening night in Vancouver, so it's an important time for us,” Woodcroft said. “We have three left. Exhibition games are running out, so for those who want to make an impression, now is the time.”

“Our job is to make sure that on opening night we pick the right twelve forwards, the right seven D and the right goaltenders.”

Edmonton’s lineups over the course of the preseason have been assembled to accelerate some of those lingering questions by putting players like Dylan Holloway, Raphael Lavoie, Adam Erne, Lane Pederson, Brad Malone, Ben Gleason, Philip Broberg and James Hamblin in positions to demonstrate their potential with only two or three roster spots up for grabs on opening night.

There are 10 days to go until the puck drops on the 2023-24 NHL season for the Blue & Orange and some hard decisions will have to be made; but hopefully, it’ll be the players who’ll provide the answer for them.

• PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers at Kraken

“At the end of the night, you want to make sure you've put people in certain types of situations, and then they show you, so that's what we're going to do tonight – make sure that we're very attentive to what the players are showing us,” Woodcroft said.

“I think all the people in the positions to either crack our lineup or move up the lineup, they've all had some good moments. It's important that the coaching staff and management group are actually watching and evaluating quite closely because the players are telling us something every time they go out on the ice.”

Centre James Hamblin and winger Raphael Lavoie will suit up for their second-straight pre-season games on Monday, with the latter impressing Coach Woodcroft in Saturday’s 5-2 defeat to the Canucks with his wicked release that came on a two-on-one that was created through Broberg’s breakout speed.

Lavoie is attempting to show what he can do on a nightly basis for the Oilers in NHL minutes after only playing in one pre-season game last year and leading the Bakersfield Condors in goals during the 2022-23 AHL season with 25 in 61 games.

“I really liked how he shot the puck on that two-on-one. It was a great play from Broberg on the breakout too, but I liked how he got inside the dots, improved his shooting angle and found a way to get it through,” Woodcroft said. “I think for Raph, he's had good moments and he's had some learning moments. You learn how good this league is when you're playing in it night after night. I think as we work our way down these last three games, we should expect him to play a lot. He'll show us."

Forward Dylan Holloway has been a major standout for the Oilers this preseason and will lineup at left wing against the Kraken on a third line with Derek Ryan and Mattias Janmark in what could be a glimpse at a potential bottom-six unit for Edmonton to begin the regular season on Oct. 11 in Vancouver.

Defenceman Ben Gleason, in the opinion of Coach Woodcroft, has been one of the most pleasant surprises over Training Camp and preseason after the bench boss got a first look at the blueline when coaching against in Bakersfield from 2018-21 while Gleason was a member of the Texas Stars.

"I think he makes a very good first pass. I think he's dangerous at the offensive blue line," Woodcroft said. "He showed a little bit of spunk at the end of the game against Vancouver. He's somebody who is fighting for positioning within our D depth chart. He has the ability to play both on the right side and the left side. I would describe him as a heads-up kind of player that has shown well so far, but we'll see what he brings tonight."

Woodcroft described the process of assembling the club's lineup as "a balancing act" as he, his coaching staff and Oilers management try to juggle giving veterans the proper amount of time to get up to speed with bubble players trying to make an impact.

"You want to make sure that your team's ready, while at the same time, you want to know what certain people can do," he said. "In the end, most veteran players will see somewhere between four and five pre-season games. Some of the younger bubble players that are fighting for positioning might see upwards of six or seven. That's the way things usually shake out in Training Camp."