All kinds of news today in Oilerland, lets start with Wade Redden. There was a time when the entire city buzzed with the possibility (when Redden was a free agent) but that was years ago and Redden’s AHL resume isn’t overwhelming. If he was a possible solution, I’d expect we would see the Oilers go all-in for the veteran. The Edmonton blueline is thin, but I don’t think taking a chance on Wade Redden is likely. A top 6 that looks like this:
- Smid-Petry
- Schultz-Schultz
- Whitney-Fistric
- Potter
seems like a better plan. See if Schultz the younger can survive the rigors of playing NHL defense, see if Ryan Whitney can do most of the things he used to do and see if Smid-Petry are as good as they looked last season. The minor leaguers (Teubert, Fedun) are a drop from the NHL 7, and if the Oilers had waiver options on someone marginal then it might make sense. However, signing Redden and demoting Justin Schultz is the only way I can see it, and baby that’s not happening.
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Oilers are strangely quiet about Teddy Peckman, which I think means one of three things:
- he’ll make the roster and they’ll keep 8D
- he’ll get sent down on a conditioning stint (along with Paajarvi, who’ll go because they’ll need the roster space for Teddy) and come back soon
- he’s going to be traded
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The Oilers also recalled Yann Danis today, as Nikolai Khabibulin insurance. We’ve discussed this for some time, expect Yann will be fastening his seat belt, making sure his seat is in the upright position and his tray is up quite a few times in 2013. I suggested here that Ben Bishop might be an option and hopefully the Oilers are thinking along the same lines.
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Oilers sent down Taylor Fedun, Colten Teubert and Chris VandeVelde today. History tells us all three are extremely likely to play in the NHL this season. Oilers had very little time to fool around with players who were outsiders, so this is the group for the run. Injuries could come at any time, all three of them could be up here in a week.
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The Oilers waived three pro players today. These are the guys who have to clear, but have not done enough to be considered with the group above. Basically, Alex Plante, Tanner House and Dane Byers are AHL players with no NHL opportunities on the horizon. Their tenure requires a “paper shuffle” so that other teams can pick them up if they wish, but that won’t happen as said player would have to stay on the big league roster for the remainder of the season.
