PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks

The Oilers conclude their pre-season schedule on Friday night with the second game of a two-game road trip at Rogers Arena against the Canucks.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 pm MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including its new home on 880CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin 30 minutes before puck-drop, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

VANCOUVER, BC – One more pre-season game to go before the real thing.

The Oilers will wrap up their pre-season schedule when they conclude a mini two-game road trip against the Canucks on Friday night at Rogers Arena before turning their attention to the club’s regular-season opener on home ice versus Winnipeg on Oct. 9.

Since the start of Training Camp and their eight-game pre-season schedule, the Blue & Orange have been focused on giving veteran players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl the ice time they need to feel ready for the start of the regular season, but plenty of focus has been paid by the club's coaching and management staffs to the battle that continues to brew for the 13^th forward spot and two vacancies that remain on the right side of Edmonton’s blueline.

Professional try-out Travis Dermott is making his case for a contract with a strong Camp that continued in Wednesday’s 6-2 defeat to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena after the veteran of 329 NHL games found the scoresheet in the second period.

Playing next to defenceman Darnell Nurse, who was making his pre-season debut in Seattle, the left-shot Dermott played his off-side and scored during his 19:10 of ice time, sneaking down from the blueline to finish a pass from Draisaitl in close against Philipp Grubauer to make it 2-2 in the middle frame.

With the left side looking full with Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak in their expected spots to begin the regular season, Dermott’s ability to play both sides could benefit the 27-year-old in his hopes of earning a contract and a place on Edmonton’s opening-night roster against Winnipeg.

“It was definitely a different summer for me,” Dermott said post-game on Wednesday. “I've had a contract every other summer, so it was definitely a little stressful and anxiety-provoking, but I tried to do what I do since I was a kid, which is that I just love to play hockey and I think that's what I've been trying to get back to the last few years here.”

Dermott has found comfort with the Oilers despite his situation on a PTO. He acknowledges the belief that assistant coach Paul Coffey puts in his defencemen every shift and the coaching staff's willingness to let him play to his strengths despite the expected mistakes of the preseason, and that's allowed him to focus a lot more on improving over Camp.

"The coaching staff here is unbelievable, especially with how I've been thinking about the results a bit too much in the past," he said. "They're great with kind of just letting me play my game. Mistakes are going to happen, but if I stop playing my game and stop being creative when that happens, then that really takes away from the player I can be.

"I think [Coffey] is behind me, giving me tips and telling me to get up on the play pretty much every shift I'm out there. So that really goes far for players. I don't know how many people behind the TV can really see that, but it speaks volumes for the type of guy he is. He's obviously been through it all, so it's great to have him and you can really trust his voice and everything he's saying."

The rearguard from Newmarket, ON also has plenty of familiar faces in Edmonton, having played alongside Connor McDavid and Connor Brown while Kris Knoblauch was the head coach of the OHL's Erie Otters. He was also a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs' organization when Brown and Zach Hyman were members of the Buds, and for a brief time, goaltender Calvin Pickard as well.

"Same with Knobber – that calming presence," Dermott continued. "All of us players, we know when we've made a mistake. We've been doing this our whole lives, so to come back to the bench and have a coach yelling at you really doesn't do much – especially for myself – and I think these guys handle it perfectly where they flip the script and have you going out there with confidence even after you might make a mistake."

For Dermott, the combination of getting back into Camp and the resources he has available to him inside the Oilers dressing room has given him a new appreciation for trying to improve every day as he tries to show himself as a potential worthy try-out addition to the team.

"There's still some defensive lapses that I want to get ahold of, but I'm watching film with these guys that they're clarifying it really easily for me and they're just building that confidence in me to go out and really show the player I can be and help me reach my potential, which I feel like I haven't really been going towards the last few years," he said. "It's nice to kind of have a good goal in mind and just kind of trust in the process and not the results."

Coach Knoblauch said that Dermott's display on Wednesday is making it more difficult for the Oilers' management and coaching staff to come to a decision after the bench boss said before Wednesday's defeat that the 27-year-old would likely get into one more pre-season game to showcase himself.

"There's a lot of pressure for a guy. He's obviously a talented player," Knoblauch said. "He's played about 320 NHL games, I believe, and he wants to continue and play for this franchise. So far, he's done a really good job. He's had many partners and [Wednesday] he was playing as off-side, which he's familiar with, but I think he's a guy that moves the puck really well. He's not that big, but he is strong on his feet.

Right-shot defencemen Josh Brown, Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher remain well-involved in the conversation as well for opening-night roster spots, but Dermott has certainly strengthened his case for a contract.

"We've got a lot of good defencemen that we've been evaluating and we obviously have one more tough decision to make."