EDMONTON — New year, new teammates.
The Edmonton Oilers have made a lot of changes during the short offseason. Familiar faces Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod, Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway are gone. Some additions include Jeff Skinner, Ty Emberson, Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin.
With fresh blood comes fresh line combinations. Today, the first day of the team’s on-ice sessions revealed a number of potential combinations.
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For the first group of players on the ice, there are two defensive pairings that look like they could get NHL minutes. Brett Kulak and Josh Brown are paired together. The other pairing is Darnell Nurse with Ty Emberson.
Group 1
RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Ryan-Perry
Lavoie-Pederson-Savoie
Wright-O’Reilly-Stefan
Clattenburg-Grubbe-De JongKulak-Brown
Nurse-Emberson
Dineen-Carrick
Hoeffenmayer/Kannock-Leipert
AkeySkinner
Rodrigue
Hungary— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) September 19, 2024
This pairing shouldn’t surprise many people. Several experts have speculated that the Oilers would consider this pairing. The organization is willing to let Emberson prove his worth.
Emberson had good results on a lesser team, the San Jose Sharks. It makes sense that he could do even better on a significantly more talented team.
Regardless of expectations, the only way to truly know what someone can do is to put them in different situations and see how they perform, and it appears the Oilers are ready for that.
Nurse scored 32 points in 81 games played in the 2023-24 season. He averaged 21:54 of ice time per game, playing primarily alongside Cody Ceci.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Furthermore, Emberson played only 30 games and produced 10 points, playing 18:33 per game for the Sharks.
As training camp progresses, it will become clearer if this is the direction the Oilers want to go. Only time will tell.
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