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Edmonton Oilers Recall Trio Of Players

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Per a team release, the Edmonton Oilers have added some depth to their playoff roster. With their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Oilers are free to call up as many extras as they wish. They have chosen to recall defenseman Markus Niemelainen, defenseman Cam Dineen and forward Brad Malone to join the NHL club as depth options for the Oilers as they continue their playoff quest.

Niemelainen is a big, physical, defensive defenseman at 6-foot-6 who played 23 NHL games this season. He was a third-round pick of the Oilers in 2016 and has 43 career NHL games of experience. He played 30 AHL games with Bakersfield this season, scoring seven points while filling a shutdown defensive role for the team.

Dineen was a third-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in the 2016 NHL Draft and was acquired by the Oilers with Nick Bjugstad at the trade deadline. More of an offensive defenseman, the 24 year old scored six goals and 47 points in 69 AHL games this season, but did not appear in any NHL contests in 2022-23. He did suit up for 34 games with the Coyotes in 2021-22, chipping in seven points but showing some defensive deficiencies as well.

Malone is a 33-year-old veteran forward who has 217 games of NHL experience. He played ten games with the Oilers this season and had 21 points in 41 AHL games with the Condors. Malone is a big winger at 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds and plays a phsyical style that could come in handy on a fourth line if a few injuries occur down the line for the Oilers.

Chances are this trio of players make up the infamous “black aces” group for the Oilers as they skate and practice with the team during the postseason but are unlikely to play any games. You never know what can happen with injuries and illness in a long playoff run so teams keep a handful of extra players around just in case, and Niemelainen, Dineed and Malone are that insurance policy for the Oilers.

Ethan De Jong Signs AHL Contract

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Another player from the National Championship-winning Quinnipiac University has found his way to a guaranteed contract, as forward Ethan De Jong has signed a 2-year deal with the Bakersfield Condors, an AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. An undrafted free agent, De Jong’s contract in Bakersfield will begin during the 2023-24 AHL season.

Over his five-season career playing for the Quinnipiac University Bobcats, De Jong played in 184 regular season matchups, scoring 61 goals and 83 assists. In his last season in Quinnipiac, De Jong scored 19 goals and 21 assists in 41 games, finishing third on the team in total scoring.

During this year’s Frozen Four, the young forward would score one goal and two assists to help his team clinch the NCAA DI Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship. The only goal he had during the playoffs came during the team’s clutch semifinal victory against the University of Michigan Wolverines.

Although the Condors managed to make the playoffs this season, the team was bounced in the first round by the Abbotsford Canucks. DeJong should help with some of Bakersfield’s weak points this season, as he has shown a knack for goal-scoring in the final two years of his time with Quinnipiac. The Condors finished this season as one of the better defensive teams in the AHL, finishing 12th in the league in goals against. However, they did not show the same prowess on the offensive side of the puck, finishing 24th in goals scored.

Edmonton Oilers Have Recalled Goaltender Calvin Pickard

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In a curious move the Edmonton Oilers recalled veteran goaltender Calvin Pickard from the Bakersfield Condors. The move was announced this morning by the Oilers; however, the team hasn’t commented on any reason for it. Stuart Skinner took most of the starts for Edmonton during the regular season and playoffs, however he was pulled in game four after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Jack Campbell came in to replace Skinner and performed admirably as he backstopped the Oilers to a comeback win to pull even with the Los Angeles Kings at two games each.

Pickard didn’t see any game action this season with Edmonton and has only played in 36 NHL games in the past six seasons. The former second round pick was once viewed as the goaltender of the future for the Colorado Avalanche after posting a save percentage over .920 in his first two NHL seasons. However, since those initial seasons Pickard hasn’t posted a single season with a save percentage above .900 and has bounced back and forth between the AHL and the NHL.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, is said by the Oilers about Pickard’s recall. The Oilers did practice this morning, with Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer observing that Stuart Skinner was in the starters net and TSN has reported that Skinner will indeed start game five. The debate amongst Edmonton fans since game four has been about who to start in net for game five after Campbell stood on his head stopping 27 of 28 shots. Campbell was expected to be the starter for the Oilers coming into this season but lost the net as he struggled with a .888 save percentage in just 36 games. Skinner jumped on the opportunity to start and posted a .913 save percentage in 50 games.

Oilers Call Up Dylan Holloway, Olivier Rodrigue

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In preparation for tonight’s Game Four between the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers, Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that the Oilers have recalled forward Dylan Holloway and goaltender Olivier Rodrigue from their AHL affiliate Bakersfield Condors.

Due to the undisclosed injury to forward Mattias Janmark, Holloway could find himself in the lineup tonight if Janmark is expected to miss a second straight game. If Holloway does find his way into the lineup, it will be the first NHL playoff game of his career.

In his rookie season, Holloway, unfortunately, did not impress as much as the Oilers may have liked him too. In 51 games for Edmonton this season, Holloway posted three goals and six assists. He did achieve a positive Corsi For % of 54.2, but averaging just a touch over nine minutes a night, Holloway never really got that much of an opportunity for the Oilers this season. He was sent down to the AHL on February 17th, but injured himself for one month, getting cleared to return on March 15th.

In his first full season in the AHL, Rodrigue posted a solid season, going 14-14-1 in 29 games played, carrying a SV% of .912 and a GAA of 2.77. As both regular goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell should be ready to play for Edmonton tonight, Rodrigue will likely be serving as the emergency backup goaltender for the Oilers.

 

Oilers To Make Black Ace Recalls On Sunday

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  • The Oilers are expected to announce their ‘Black Ace’ recalls on Sunday, suggests Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link). AHL Bakersfield was eliminated from the playoffs last night by Abbotsford.  As a result, Edmonton can recall as many players as they want with forward Dylan Holloway likely to be the headliner.  With Mattias Janmark out of the lineup, it’s possible that Holloway could get into their series against Los Angeles at some point.

Mattias Janmark Could Miss Game 2

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  • Edmonton Oilers winger Mattias Janmark could miss Game 2 against the Los Angeles Kings tonight after blocking a shot off his right foot Monday, TSN’s Jason Gregor reports. Janmark did not participate in this morning’s practice and was seen limping after the Oilers’ Game 1 overtime loss. Gregor expects the Oilers to dress seven defensemen tonight with Janmark absent, meaning youngster Philip Broberg could make his second career playoff appearance. Janmark did register an assist in Game 1.

Edmonton Oilers Re-Sign Cam Dineen

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The Edmonton Oilers have re-signed defenseman Cam Dineen to a one-year deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $210,000 in the minors, with $250,000 guaranteed, PuckPedia reports.

Dineen, a 24-year-old left-handed defenseman, was acquired by the Oilers in a March trade with the Arizona Coyotes that sent center Nick Bjugstad to Arizona. He was a third-round pick of the Coyotes in the 2016 NHL Draft.

He split last season between Arizona’s and Edmonton’s AHL affiliates, the Tucson Roadrunners and Bakersfield Condors. In 69 games with the Roadrunners and Condors last season, Dineen tallied 11 goals and 36 assists for 47 points. He also recorded seven assists in 34 NHL games with Arizona in 2021-22.

Dineen was eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this offseason. Group VI unrestricted free agents are players who are 25 years old or older and have played in three or more professional seasons but have played fewer than 80 NHL games. Dineen is 24 but will have his 25th birthday before June 30, the deadline for Group VI free agency.

The Oilers’ decision to re-sign Dineen is a low-risk move, as they have secured a young defenseman with some remaining upside on an affordable contract. Dineen will likely begin the season in the AHL but has shown himself to be a decent call-up option after back-to-back strong offensive performances in the minors if injuries affect the Oilers’ defense corps next season.

Dineen’s offensive output in the AHL is promising, but he will need to round out his defensive game if he hopes to become a regular in the NHL. At 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, Dineen is not the biggest defenseman, but he has good mobility and is an effective puck-mover.

PHR Playoff Primer: Los Angeles Kings vs Edmonton Oilers

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With the start of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs just a few days away, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We continue our look with the Pacific Division matchup between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.

A series that promises to be high scoring and hard fought will take place between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers in a rematch from a year ago. That series saw the Oilers take a lead with two blowout wins in Game 2 and 3 before falling behind 3-2 and then clawing back to win by allowing just two goals in the final two games. Connor McDavid carried the team to victory with 14 points in seven games and Mike Smith was great in goal with a .938 SV% in the series win.

The Kings were without Drew Doughty who was injured last season, but he is playing great hockey again with 52 points in 81 games this season. Adding Kevin Fiala to the lineup also gives the Kings a point-per-game player they did not have at their disposal a year ago. Doughty and Fiala give the Kings a big shot in the arm compared to a year ago, but the Oilers are playing some of the best hockey we have seen in Edmonton in decades.

Will it be the high-flying Oilers for a second consecutive season, or will the Kings exact some revenge from a first-round exit a year ago?

Regular Season Performance

Edmonton: 50-23-9, 109 points, +65 goal differential
Los Angeles: 47-25-10, 104 points, +23 goal differential

Head-To-Head

November 16, 2022: Los Angeles 3, Edmonton 1

January 9, 2023: Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 3

March 30, 2023:Edmonton 2, Los Angeles 0

April 4, 2023: Edmonton 3, Los Angeles 1

Season series tied 2-2-0

Team Storylines

The Oilers enter the postseason with Connor McDavid riding one of the greatest offensive seasons we have witnessed. Scoring 64 goals and 153 points is something we saw in the 1980’s but is simply unheard of in today’s NHL. McDavid became just the sixth player in league history to score 150 points and the first to do it since Mario Lemieux in 1996.

Though he is well ahead of anyone else in the league, he is not the only Oiler piling up points this season. Leon Draisaitl scored 52 goals and 128 points, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added 37 goals and 104 points and Zach Hyman was over a point-per-game with 36 goals and 83 points in 79 games. Evander Kane missed significant time this season, but scored 16 goals and 28 points in 41 games and was a playoff beast a year ago, leading the postseason in goals with 13, even though the Oilers were eliminated in four straight games in the Western Conference Final.

Scoring is not, and never really was, an issue for the Oilers. The questions marks existed elsewhere, but have the Oilers patched those holes? They added Mattias Ekholm at the trade deadline, and he has been the defensive rock that they needed all along. Since adding Ekholm, the Oilers finished the season on an 18-2-1 run to ensure home-ice advantage in this series. He has been averaging well over 20 minutes of ice time per game and immediately rejuvenated the Oilers top-four defense along with Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Cody Ceci.

Do the Oilers have what it takes in goal to win a series? They thought they would be leaning on Jack Campbell at this time of year after signing him to a five-year contract with a $5MM annual cap hit just last summer. However, he struggled in his first season with the Oilers, posting a 3.41 GAA and a .888 SV%. Stuart Skinner has really taken over the starter’s role in the last quarter of the season, posting a 2.43 GAA and a .920 SV% since March 1 and giving the Oilers a reliable goaltender to lean on late in the season.

Another key to focus on is, will the Kings be able to slow down the offensive beast that is the Edmonton Oilers? A quick glance at their numbers show the Kings were not able to slow anyone down this season. They allowed 257 goals this season. The only playoff teams to allow more were the Florida Panthers and Oilers. It sure promises to be a high scoring series. With Doughty playing this time around and Vladislav Gavrikov acquired at the trade deadline, the Kings have a better chance of at least slowing down McDavid and Draisaitl. No one can stop those two, but if they are held to 7-9 points each in a series, it would force the Oilers depth pieces to add some scoring, which they are not always capable of doing.

What about the Kings goaltending? They did trade for a goaltender at the trade deadline and Joonas Korpisalo has been great for them. He played just 11 games after being acquired, but he had a 2.13 GAA and a .921 SV% to give the Kings confidence in a position that was a weakness for most of the season. If Korpisalo can continue to play like that in the first round, the Kings will be in good shape. But it is difficult for anyone to put up a .920 SV% against these Oilers, who were the highest scoring team in the NHL with 325 goals.

Special teams are always a key component in a playoff series and this will be no exception. The Oilers power play alone is enough to give goaltenders nightmares as it clicked at a 32.4% efficiency rate, which is the best power play percentage in NHL history. The Kings had a bottom ten penalty kill at 75.8%. That is not something that can be fixed overnight and could prove to be a huge problem against a team like the Oilers.

On the other hand, the Oilers penalty kill was not much better, killing off 77% of their penalties while the Kings power play converted on an impressive 25.3% of their chances. Staying out of the box is going to be key as neither team is strong while shorthanded, and both have the ability to do damage on the man advantage.

Prediction

The Kings have new pieces in place that should allow them to be more competitive this time around. Having Gavrikov and Doughty on defense, Korpisalo in goal as well as Phillip Danault who is one of the best shutdown centers in the league, should at least slow down McDavid a little bit. He is going to score on the power play, but if they can limit him at even strength, they will force the depth of the Oilers to step up, and they don’t have a lot of scoring behind their top four forwards. There won’t be two huge blowouts early in the series this time around.

The problem for the Kings is, the Oilers have addressed similar needs and now have Ekhlom as a defensive horse on the blue line and they are playing the best hockey we have seen out of any team in the past six weeks. McDavid and Draisaitl each averaged two points per game in the playoffs last spring, and both were somehow even better this season than ever before. Yes, they could use some depth scoring, but Mattias Janmark, Warren Foegele, Klim Kostin, Nick Bjugstad and Ryan McLeod give them reliable minutes even if they don’t score a ton. That can be left to the top two lines.

Yet another magical spring from McDavid and Draisaitl is about to begin, and they won’t be denied in round one. It will not be an easy one by any stretch, but the Kings offense just can’t match the Oilers scoring. Prediction: The Oilers win in six games.

Ryan Murray Loaned To AHL On Conditioning Stint

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The Edmonton Oilers haven’t had Ryan Murray in the lineup since late November, but they could be getting him back just in time for some added depth in the playoffs. The veteran defenseman has been assigned to the Bakersfield Condors on an AHL conditioning assignment, suggesting he’s ready to get back into a game after missing the last several months.

Murray has played just 13 games this season after signing a one-year, $750K contract with the Oilers last summer. He averaged just 13 minutes a night in those appearances and will likely receive even less than that if Edmonton’s current group can stay healthy.

As most teams have discovered, though, the Stanley Cup playoffs are a war of attrition, and teams that go on deep runs usually need eight, nine, or even ten defensemen. With over 400 games of NHL experience, Murray can fill the role of practice player until they need an extra body.

It’s a role he’s familiar with, given he won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche last season without appearing in the postseason.

Ryan McLeod Activated Off LTIR

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The Oilers welcomed back one of their centers before their game tonight against Colorado, announcing (Twitter link) that Ryan McLeod was activated off LTIR.  The 23-year-old missed four weeks with an upper-body injury and was retroactively shuffled to LTIR over the weekend.  McLeod has put up nearly identical numbers compared to his rookie season, notching 11 goals and 11 assists in 55 games heading into tonight’s action although he got to those numbers in 16 fewer contests than a year ago.

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