Game Day 39: Oilers vs Kraken
This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news that the team has recalled rugged veteran d-man Josh Brown. But what does it mean?
Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic offered this up: “It looked like all the regulars had their gear packed up postgame in order to travel to SEA. Oilers are starting a long road trip across three time zones, so it’s good to have another Dman around. Knoblauch said (injured newcomer Alec) Regula has started skating on his own but isn’t an option right now.”
My take
1. Brown was recalled in mid-December but never saw any ice time with the Oilers. But just now the Oilers are on track to play nine games in 15 days. They may well need re-enforcement. There are no reports or rumours of any regular Oilers d-man being injured just now, save for the rehabbing Regula, a big, right-shot puck mover.
2. Brown did poorly in preseason and struggled in a three game call-up in November. He has struggled to move the puck well enough to roll with the Oilers. Edmonton is going to need to bring in a big, tough left shot d-man at some point to round out the third-pairing with Troy Emberson, but Brown may be used as a stopgap player to give the Oilers some heft against big, rough and physical teams, which can cause smaller Troy Stecher some trouble, as seen against the Los Angeles Kings.
P.S. This in from Bob Stauffer of the Oilers Radio Network: The Edmonton Oilers prospect Matthew Savoie is on a major heater! In on Lane Pederson’s GWG in OT… Savoie finished with 1-2-3 tonight and has 3-7-10/+7 in his last 4 GP for the Condors.”
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