With Evander Kane rumours swirling, Edmonton Oilers prepare for surging Predators

Game Day 39: Nashville at Edmonton

Lots of chatter in the hockey world surrounding the potential signing of free agent forward Evander Kane by the Edmonton Oilers as soon as today or tomorrow. The connection has been made for over a fortnight now, with Oilers’ GM Ken Holland expressing interest in the player in his media avail back on Jan 12, just a couple of days after the controversial winger had his his 7-year, $49 million contract voided by the San Jose Sharks due to a second breach of COVID protocols.

A few more tidbits since the Cult of Hockey ‘s David Staples provided this update yesterday. Today two contributors to Daily Faceoff , hockey insider Frank Seravalli and former referee Tim Peel, suggested that the situation is close to being resolved and when it is, Edmonton will be Kane’s destination.

Irfaan Gaffar of The Fourth Period added this:

For what it’s worth, Gaffar reports from Vancouver. That’s Kane’s home town where he has been stationed while the situation is being resolved. Sounding more and more like that could happen soon.

Tonight’s line-up

For the second straight game the Oilers are adding a top-six left winger to the line-up, and neither of them is named Evander Kane. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made a successful return to the line-up on Tuesday in Vancouver, and Zach Hyman will look to do the same tonight after missing time on the COVID protocol list.

Hyman will take the roster spot of Kyle Turris who was formally placed on the taxi squad yesterday to make room. We had previously guessed Turris would be so moved to make room for RNH on Tuesday, instead Mike Smith was placed on LTIR to facilitate that move. Lots of moving pieces on the roster these last weeks.

Brendan Perlini comes out of the line-up despite having scored 4 goals in his last 8 games as Dave Tippett resolutely sticks to a veteran fourth line of Devin Shore , Derek Ryan and Colton Sceviour. As detailed in the last Game Day post, that trio have all had their struggles on the penalty kill, though it’s worth pointing out that at 5v5 they have performed well as a trio. In 48 minutes as a line they have controlled the flow of play with 58% of the shot attempts and 62% of the expected goals, while in actual goals they have sawed off at 0-0. Given the Oilers’ persistent problems in the bottom six, “break even” is not bad at all.

One change on the back end, where William Lagesson apparently will replace Slater Koekkoek on the third pairing. To activate Lagesson from the taxi squad, the Oil will most likely place Tyson Barrie on Injured Reserve retroactive to last Thursday when he got hurt vs. Florida.

Article content

Mikko Koskinen will get the start and a chance to extend his personal 2-game winning streak. He will face a tough test in the Nashville Predators, who are riding a 3-game win streak of their won and an impressive 27-14-3 mark overall, this after a 1-4-0 start. By points (57) they are second in the tough Central Division, though by percentage (.648) they are fourth, as both St. Louis and Minnesota hold games in hand.

The Preds are led by former Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi with 43 points in 42 games, while Filip Forsberg and the resurgent Matt Duchene have both hit the 20-goal mark already. As usual they will be backstopped by workhorse goalie Juuse Saros who will make his 37th start of the season sporting excellent numbers of 23-11-2, 2.37, .926 and a 72% Quality Start percentage.

Game time is 7pm MST at Rogers Place, with the game to be televised on Sportsnet West.