It was a welcome sight for the Oilers to see forward Zach Hyman on the ice for Monday’s full-team skate at T-Mobile Arena, where the winger rotated in while wearing a bottom-six blue jersey as he tries to get back into the lineup before the end of their current road trip.
Hyman has missed the last four games for the Oilers due to injury and will be evaluated on Tuesday morning before making the decision on whether he’ll suit up against the Golden Knights.
“We'll decide that tomorrow. He's getting very close, but we'll see,” Knoblauch said.
“He's a guy who does everything well. A lot of it is getting on the forecheck and winning those little battles. And then, of course, the goal-scoring. It's about preventing goals and putting them in the net, and he's pretty good at both those. He’s a guy who’s good in possession, good in the offensive zone, good at holding the puck and making other teams defend. But ultimately, just being able to score goals is something that’s very important.”
Forward Kasperi Kapanen has done a terrific job at filling for Hyman, recording a goal and assist in his four games with the Oilers since being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 19. The Finnish forward has been a fit alongside McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the top line with his speed and tenacity, along with being a part of Edmonton’s improved penalty kill in recent games.
“He's part of our six-man [PK] rotation for the forwards, and we've got Nugent-Hopkins and Rico as our first pair, then Brownie and Janny, and then Pods and Kappy,” Knoblauch said. “We feel comfortable with him because he's done this kill before, and another thing is that he skates well. He can attack and pressure and skate, and we rely on that quite a bit from our forwards.”
Kapanen’s penalty-kill partner, Vasily Podkolzin, scored in a third straight game against the Avalanche on Saturday and currently owns the NHL’s longest goal-scoring streak.
Defenceman Troy Stecher put forward an assist on Saturday night for the third straight game as well and is proving to be a valuable piece of the Oilers blue line next to Darnell Nurse after coming in as Edmonton’s seventh defenceman at last year’s Trade Deadline.
“I think he's delivering as advertised,” Head Coach Knoblauch said. “A smaller guy, hard working and sees the game really well. Last year, he never got much opportunity just because he came in here as our seventh defenceman and then had injury struggles and couldn't get in regularly. But we saw it in practice. His compete level and his attention to detail are really good, and now this year having the opportunity… he's earned that spot and he's been playing really well with Darnell.”