Oilers Announce Taxi Squad Roster

The Edmonton Oilers announced their six player taxi squad roster for the 2021 season on Tuesday night. The roster includes five forwards and one goaltender that will travel with the team in case of any injury. Notable players that made the cut are Joakim Nygard, Tyler Benson and Ryan McLeod.

The roster does include a few fascinating names. The fact that Ryan McLeod is on here suggests that he won’t be a regular on the team as many suspected after he appeared as the fourth line centerman in practice on Monday morning. Jujhar Khaira, who just went unclaimed through waivers, has appeared to beat him out for the job.

Nygard is another player that many expected to make the opening night roster but it seems like a logjam at LW was able to keep him off it for now. The same goes for Patrick Russell at RW as he appeared in 45 games with the Oilers last season.

Alan Quine is a new addition to the team and showed well enough in training camp to be kept around in the taxi squad. He beat out some PTO options to get to this spot. The player with the most potential here, outside of McLeod, is Tyler Benson. Benson is a reigning AHL all-star and managed to appear in seven games with the Oilers, tallying his first NHL point with an assist during that span.

Lastly, we have Stuart Skinner who will act as the team’s third-string goalie for the season. He would not have been in this position had the Carolina Hurricanes not acquired Anton Forsberg on waivers from the Oilers this morning. Skinner had a 16-17-2 record in the AHL last season posting a .894sv%.

These players will be on standby and may appear in a handful of games this season in case of injury.