Edmonton depth forwards hit new low, but three fresh Oilers players tonight bring hope

Three injured Edmonton Oilers, Zach Hyman, Jake Walman and Colton Dach, have recovered enough to return to the line-up for tonight’s game against Utah.

From Salt Lake City, Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now reports the lines and pairings from the morning skate:

Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl
Kapanen-Dach-Hyman
Formenton-Michaels-Joseph
Hallander-Frederic-Howard
Jones-Samanski

Ekholm-Bouchard
Shea-Murphy
Walman-Emberson
Mukhamadullin

Jarry
Levi

1. Help is arriving not a moment too soon. Edmonton jumped on the back of its three superstars, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard and charged off to five wins in the team’s first six games before losing 4-2 to Utah in Edmonton on Thursday.

McDavid and Draisaitl have been almost impossibly good in 5-on-5 play this year, scoring 17 goals and giving up just three, a Goals For Percentage of 86.4 per cent. This is a marked improvement from last year where the two were out for 18 goals for, 16 against, a 52.6 GF%.

At the same time Edmonton has crashed to a new low without McDavid or Draisaitl on the ice, scoring six goals so far this year but giving up 14, a 30.0 GF%.

2. With that 86.4 GF% I can see why Babcock is reluctant to break up Draisaitl and McDavid just no. It makes sense to keep on riding them until opposing teams prove they can shut down the two of them teamed up with Vasily Podkolzin.

At the same time, adding Zach Hyman and Colton Dach to the second should help bolster that unit. The threesome of Filip Hallander, Kasperi Kapanen and Trent Frederic got almost nothing done against Utah on Thursday. Now Hallander and Frederic are on the fourth line, with Ike Howard on their wing.

3. If Dach and Hyman are fit, that second line could be a heavy load for the Mammoth, with three big, fast forecheckers coming at them hard. Forechecking and cycling the puck is driven by aggression, size and speed, but it also takes solid connection and co-ordination between the three attacking forwards, which may not be there at once for this trio.

4. Jake Walman comes in for big, lanky and inconsistent Shakir Mukhamadullin. Walman was in and out of the line-up last year with injuries. He failed to put together a string of solid games until the end of the season, when he was Edmonton’s best d-man in the playoffs. He and Emberson formed a strong partnership against Anahiem. We’ll see if Walman is well enough and sharp enough to bring his “A” game tonight against the fast and skilled Utah team.