PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers vs. Kraken

EDMONTON, AB – An opportunity for everyone to raise their game in the absence of their two superstars.

"Everybody's got to step up in some way, and those are two leaders for us, so everyone's got to step up and I think everyone's pretty ready for that challenge," defenceman Jake Walman said.

The Edmonton Oilers will be forced into making changes to their lineup starting on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken for their first game without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl due to injury, leaving their remaining players with the job of replacing their minutes and roles against a Pacific Division rival.

"When you don't have 97 or 29, things change quite a bit and we're going to need a little more collective effort throughout the lineup from lines one through four, with a lot of guys stepping up and playing more significant roles and a lot more minutes," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said.

"Guys like Rico, [Jeff] Skinner, obviously the two of them, and that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins line with Podkolzin and Arvidsson has been playing so well. Their role and deployment's gonna be a lot more frequent than if we had those other guys in lineup."

The Podkolzin, Nugent-Hopkins and Arvidsson line will play as the top line against the Kraken as the only unchanged trio from Thursday night's 4-3 overtime defeat to the Winnipeg Jets after developing chemistry and playing effectively together as a unit over the past three contests.

Adam Henrique will jump into a top-six role next to Corey Perry and Zach Hyman, while Thursday's two-goal scorer in Jeff Skinner will play alongside Mattias Janmark – who will be deployed as a centre – and winger Connor Brown on the third line.

Centre Derek Ryan will make his first appearance for the Oilers since Jan. 11 in between Max Jones and Kasperi Kapanen on the fourth line, giving Coach Knoblauch a right-handed option for faceoffs and another penalty-killing option that will give him more favourable options.

The bench boss believes that the timing could be right for the rest of the roster to gain some extra confidence before the Stanley Cup Playoffs by playing elevated minutes and more significant roles, garnering a few extra shifts and puck touches in the absence of McDavid and Draisaitl.

"It just gets everybody involved," Knoblauch said. "The more somebody plays, the more they feel like they're part of the game. So some of these guys who are getting maybe 15 or 17 shifts a game, now we're looking at 20 to 23, and it just makes them involved a lot more. They're engaged. It's much easier as a player to play the game, so right now, they're in a much better position to contribute just because of their deployment."

No McDavid and Draisaitl means significant alterations to their power play, but the Oilers have a number of potential replacements who've been in those positions before over their careers, but just haven't had as much of an opportunity here in Edmonton because of their stacked top power-play unit.

"Things will change up quite a bit," Knoblauch said. "We have a lot of guys who are power-play guys like Arvidsson and Skinner who've been on first-unit power plays for many years over their careers, but with us, they haven't had that role or that opportunity for more than maybe a few games. But right now, they're leading the way and it's something that we feel comfortable with, and obviously, they should be too, because they've been doing it for a while."

Defenceman Ty Emberson will be a healthy scratch on the blueline for a third straight game for Edmonton with their six-man group having played well in recent contests, including Troy Stecher who's been effective on the third pairing next to Brett Kulak.

Knoblauch acknowledged that Emberson is still a developing young player and will get plenty of more opportunities, but that it's tough to take anyone else out right now considering how well they've been playing.

"We've got three games next week, and I'm sure that he'll be in one, if not two or possibly even three of them," he said. "So we definitely want him back in the lineup, he's a great player, but right now, we just feel that our other six have been playing really well. It's tough to take any of those out."

"As much that we like to think about development and giving guys more opportunities, right now, we're in a position of win hockey games. That's what it is. It's not that he can't help us win hockey games, I think we're just going with the guys that are playing their best right now, and it's tough to make those changes."

Goatender Stuart Skinner will get the start tonight after leaving Thursday's game with around five minutes remaining in regulation due to concussion protocol from receiving contact to the head from Winnipeg forward Gabriel Vilardi.

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Seattle below:

Podkolzin - Nugent-Hopkins - Arvidsson
Perry - Henrique - Hyman
Skinner - Janmark - Brown
Jones - Ryan - Kapanen

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Walman
Kulak - Stecher

Skinner
Pickard