BLOG: Opportunity abound at Oilers practice

EDMONTON, AB -The full Oilers lineup skated on Rogers Place on Friday, the day after Head Coach Jay Woodcroft split up the forwards and defence for individual practices.
With a pair of top-nine forwards out of the lineup in Evander Kane and Kailer Yamamoto, Woodcroft has the ability to ride the hot hand when it comes to the coveted ice time next to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Right now, it appears as if Mattias Janmark and Warren Foegele are the forwards reaping the rewards for their efforts.
"We're just trying to reconfigure some lines in the search of continued improvement. Matthias has come up and I thought showed very well since he's come up from Bakersfield," Woodcroft said about the Swedish forward. "I think he'd be the first to admit that his training camp didn't go the way that he wanted it to. He went through waivers, went down to Bakersfield, worked at his game -- and I see someone who's motivated, hungry, skating well, and has created some chances here in the games that I've seen him."

Janmark has a fair amount of experience moving up and down the lineup throughout his career and he's shown the ability to put the puck in the net, averaging 12.8 goals per 82 games in his career -- including 15 and 19 goal seasons when he first joined the National Hockey League.
So far in Blue & Orange, the 29-year-old has one assist in his first three contests, but he has seen his ice time slowly climb playing 10:52 in his first game up to 15:22 Wednesday versus the Kings.
"I think that first game was a little I got in late and traveled the day before and obviously the team didn't play very well. The last two games, I feel like I've been getting the puck a little more, put myself in better places to get the puck," Janmark said. "Last game I felt like I was skating pretty well. I wasn't happy with how I finished with the puck on my shots and all that and you never know how the games are going to turn out, but if you can keep putting yourself with a puck in your hands and in your team's hands, you can keep working on it."
For Foegele, the 6-foot-2 forward has seen his ice time go up in Kane's absence and he has produced. The 26-year-old started with a shorthanded goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning but also picked up the game winner against the Panthers to end the Oilers road trip. Foegele has an intruguing mix of size, skating ability and enough skill to score double-digit goals in each of the last four-games.
"I think I've shown that in my career, especially when I was in Carolina, that I can go up and down the line up and play either side of the wings and I'm just hoping to show that here," Foegele said.

It appears another game riding shotgun on the wing of Leon Draisaitl is in the cards for the Foegele, who was skating on a line with the German at practice, as well as last game versus the Kings.
"He's the best passer in the NHL by mile and you just got to be ready, but you also got to try to get him the puck and try to create space out there for him," Foegele said about playing with Draisaitl. "I'm just going to try to work hard and try to give him the puck as much as I can and play hard."
In goal, Stuart Skinner spent the majority of the time in the starters crease after back-to-back solid outings in goal against the Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings where he stopped 69 of 73 shots he faced. The 24-year-old has seized control of the Oilers crease while Jack Campbell works to find the form that had him named a 2022 NHL All-star last season.
Skinner has recorded a .935 save percentage or higher in five of his eight appearances, despite Campbell's early season struggles, the Oilers goaltender's performance alone has warranted more time occupying the starters crease.
"I mean, that's what opportunity is, right? I think all players crave opportunity for players that are on the bubble and outside the lineup, they just want to get into the lineup," Woodcroft said about players seizing more ice time. "I think that's what people crave and we got to make sure that we're paying attention to see who takes advantage of those types of opportunities."

Lines at this morning's practice appeared as follows:
Forwards
Janmark - McDavid - Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins - Draisaitl - Foegele
Kostin - McLeod - Puljujarvi
Holloway - Shore - Ryan
Defence
Nurse - Ceci
Kulak - Bouchard
Murray - Barrie
Niemelainen
Goalies
Skinner
Campbell
Get all of the day's content below:
WRITTEN
VIDEO
- PRACTICE | Coveted Ice Time - PRACTICE | Puck Touches - RAW | Mattias Janmark - RAW | Warren Foegele - RAW | Klim Kostin - RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft