PRESEASON GAME PREVIEW: Edmonton Oilers @ Vancouver Canucks

The Oilers are in Vancouver tonight to take on the hometown Canucks after a tidy victory against the Winnipeg Jets last night in Edmonton.

The Oilers are still yet to dress either of Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl this preseason, but that’s not concerning just yet.

Watch & Listen

Edmonton Oilers (1-0-0 in preseason)

Vancouver Canucks (1-1-0 in preseason)

8 PM MST - Rogers Arena, Vancouver

TV: SN1, SN-W, SN-P

Radio: 630 CHED

SBN Counterparts: Nucks Misconduct

What to Look For

The Oilers are bringing a ragtag group consisting of Darnell Nurse, Adam Larsson, and a bunch of maybes and hopefuls to the west coast. Some of those maybes and hopefuls are more likely to make noise with the big club than others, with the likes of Evan Bouchard and Dmitri Samorukov skating alongside the dislikes of Brandon Manning.

Bakersfield Condors alums Cooper Marody and Tyler Benson are both scheduled to play, with Marody anchoring the top line between Tomas Jurco and Benson manning Ryan McLeod’s left flank.

Tonight’s contest might not be appointment viewing, but there are certainly a few players worth paying attention to. Can Benson do more to stand out? Is Darnell Nurse looking any closer to being worth the $7MM the Oilers are seemingly desperate to pay him? Will he and Larsson form a genuine shutdown pairing? Even if just for one night?

The Oilers are Saying

“He had a good year last year for Bakersfield and (Goaltending Coach) Dustin Schwartz would like to see him in a game tonight.”

— Dave Tippett, Oilers Head Coach, on Shane Starrett getting the start tonight.

The Canucks are Saying

“We started over a year ago, in August, going through long-term options and we sat down and huddled and going into his last season (of his entry-level contract) last year we had seven-year deal options, six-year deal options,” Hankinson said. “It wasn’t where we thought it should be. The market obviously changed, so we’re happy we didn’t sign what the numbers were back then.”

— Ben Hankinson, Brock Boeser’s agent, after his client signed a three-year bridge deal with the Canucks.

Have Some of This

Courtesy the Oilers’ official website, here are the projected lines for our heroes this evening:

Forwards

Tomas Jurco - Cooper Marody - Josh Currie

Markus Granlund - Colby Cave - Patrick Russell

Tyler Benson - Ryan McLeod - Cameron Hebig

Joseph Gambardella - Brad Malone - Anthony Peluso

Defence

Darnell Nurse - Adam Larsson

Dmitri Samorukov - Evan Bouchard

Brandon Manning - Ethan Bear

Goal

Shane Starrett

Dylan Wells

Our Coverage

Whip around back to the website before puck drop to check in with our Game Thread!