The Oilers won last night in Minnesota, but the win wasn't the story. The story was Taylor Fedun who was tripped into the boards and ended up with a complex fracture to his femur. When Derek wrote about the incident this morning, he said:
The debate on no-touch icing is already under way, though I don't believe this play should be used as evidence for either side of the debate.
I couldn't disagree more. To my mind, this is exactly the kind of play that should be used to show those who have the power to facilitate change that no-touch icing really should be implemented. I think they should do it immediately, but as with most big institutions, change doesn't come quickly with the NHL (unless it's because of Sean Avery). Still, I was encouraged when Taylor Hall spoke out on the issue immediately after the game:
Hoping for the best with Fedun. Need to get rid of touch icings. If not this kind of thing will keep happening.
Couldn't agree more. Maybe we'll see it next year. And tonight? I just hope everyone can stay healthy.
Edmonton Oilers @ Vancouver Canucks
Rogers Arena, 8:00 p.m. MDT
Television: CBC
More analysis after the jump...
Expected Lineup:
Edmonton Oilers:
Smyth - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle
Hall - Horcoff - Green
Hartikainen - O'Marra - Brule
Petrell - Lander - Keller
Barker - Gilbert
Peckham - Petry
Sutton - Potter
Khabibulin
Dubnyk
Notes from Camp:
- First off, those lineups are my own best guess as opposed to having an actual source. With back-to-back games, I figure we'll see all six forwards that were missing last night (and those top two lines have been practicing together), and then all of the bubble boys. On the back-end, it's just a lefty with a righty, but no matter which way I mix and match, it's pretty underwhelming.
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On the other side, the Canucks have taken some flack for abusing the league's rules regarding NHL players actually playing in the pre-season (they signed a bunch of guys to PTOs in order to avoid dressing their own NHLers), but they'll be dressing a real lineup tonight, which should be a really good test for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and for all of those guys competing for jobs on the fourth line.
- The injuries just in the pre-season have been numerous to say the least, but there's still no word on the severity of the injury to Taylor Chorney's knee or Ladislav Smid's shoulder (although Tom Renney described Smid's injury as "a bit of a chronic kind of thing"), so they may well be back before the regular season opener, which isn't until October 9th. Ben Eager has also talked about being ready to start the year, so even though this run of injuries is concerning, it may not be as bad as it seems.
- If Smid, Chorney, and Ryan Whitney are going to be out for a while, the Oilers may consider some of the options that will be available on the waiver wire. Given that these players will eventually be coming back, I expect that the club will wait to find someone on a two-way contract so that they're not stuck paying a guy NHL bucks all year long if he ends up in the AHL.
- There are a few guys on this roster who won't make the team, but there are only four guys in the (hypothetical) lineup who didn't play at least one game in the NHL last season: Nugent-Hopkins, Petrell, Lander, and Ryan Keller (who's an injury away from making this team as a defenseman).