Oilers make major line changes that involve McDavid and Draisaitl
The Edmonton Oilers showcased a new-look forward group on Monday morning as they prepare to welcome the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
Following a frustrating 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars over the weekend that saw Edmonton’s offence dry up, head coach Kris Knoblauch has once again brought out the blender for his forward lines.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been playing on the same line over the past couple of days, but it appears they will now be split up to centre each of the top two lines. Daily Hive was able to confirm with Knoblauch that the two superstars would be playing on separate lines against the Hurricanes.
This will reunite McDavid with a familiar line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, while Draisaitl will get Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson on his line, similar to the configuration the team opened the season with.
#Oilers lines this morning:
RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Janmark-Henrique-Brown
Podkolzin-Ryan-Perry
(lots of rotating in the bottom-six)Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Stecher/Dermott
Kulak-EmbersonLots of rotating throughout.
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) October 21, 2024
A lot of players were rotating in the bottom six of the forward group this morning, which made it difficult to get concrete lines. The third line featured a few different configurations, but the safe bet is that Adam Henrique will play with Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark. There were, however, instances of Vasily Podkolzin and Corey Perry taking rushes with Henrique.
The same can be said with the fourth line, with the only solid member of that group being Derek Ryan as the centreman.
On the backend, it appears the Oilers liked what they’ve seen from the third pairing of Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson. Those two were skating together once again. This leaves a second pairing of Darnell Nurse and one of Travis Dermott or Troy Stecher, as both were taking turns in that spot this morning.
In goal, there was no solid indication of who would start tomorrow, though it would make more sense for Stuart Skinner to get the nod once again.
Game time against the Hurricanes is set for tomorrow at 7 pm MT.