Preseason Game 8: Vancouver Canucks @ Edmonton Oilers

Connor McDavid had a pair of goals, while Patrick Maroon, Mark Letestu and Tyler Pitlick each had one in Edmonton's 5-2 victory over the Jets on Thursday night.  Jonas Gustavsson secured the victory for the Oilers, turning aside 22 of 23 Winnipeg shots.

Tonight is the final tune-up for the Oilers, as the 2016-17 NHL season is coming at us like a white hot ball of canine terror.  Let's have a look.

Vancouver Canucks @ Edmonton Oilers

7 PM MDT

TV - Sportsnet 360, Radio - 630 CHED

The opposition:  Nucks Misconduct

FORWARDS

Milan Lucic - Connor McDavid - Jordan Eberle

Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Leon Draisaitl

Patrick Maroon - Anton Lander - Jesse Puljujärvi

Tyler Pitlick - Mark Letestu - Zack Kassian

DEFENCE

Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera - Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse - Mark Fayne

GOAL

Cam Talbot

Jonas Gustavsson

• The Oilers traded Nail Yakupov for scraps.  Read about it if you haven't yet.  Aside from the woefully unimpressive return that the team was able to secure, it creates some roster questions.  You'll notice Leon Draisaitl to the right of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tonight, which leads me to believe the Oilers are seriously considering playing Draisaitl on the right side come Wednesday night.  Kris Versteeg isn't on the injured list, so I'm a little surprised not to see him in the lineup tonight.  Drake Caggiula is day-to-day after suffering what looked like a hip injury in Winnipeg.  I've still got Caggiula making the big club, but no Versteeg leads me to think that the Oilers are thinking more about Puljujärvi than I may have given them credit for.  A solid camp for Tyler Pitlick gives him one more kick at the can tonight.  Barring injury, I've got Anton Lander headed to Bakersfield.
• No secret that Nail Yakupov didn't perform very well with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.  With Draisaitl starting tonight on the wing, it'll be interesting to see how this combination plays out.  Draisaitl performed very well with former Oiler Taylor Hall (it's still weird to type that), so how's it going to play out with 93 down the middle?
• Kris Russell signed a deal with the Oilers last night.  It's a one year deal valued at 3.1MM, and he's playing next to Andrej Sekera.  I've got a few issues with all of this, but playing Kris Russell on the right side with Andrej Sekera is the big part.  Another big issue?  Griffin Reinhart was originally scheduled to be on the opening night roster.  That's bad planning, but when that didn't work out?  The club went out and spent 3.1MM on a guy who should be a third pairing guy.  Tonight, he plays on the right side alongside Andrej Sekera. This is not how it was supposed to be, you guys.  They're gonna do something dumb like wave Fayne and sign Gryba, Gryba is gonna run with Darnell Nurse and I'm gonna drink heavily.
• The top line combined for three points (2-1-3) on Thursday night.  As this line goes, so go the Oilers.
• #GOILERS