Edmonton Oilers
Oilers May Move Surprising Names Out Of Top Six
With the Edmonton Oilers struggling to win games and their forwards often looking lifeless, it might be time to demote a top-line regular.
With Connor Brown already off of Connor McDavid’s line and down on the third line, there’s talk in Edmonton that another forward originally pegged for a top-six role could be moved off of the coveted top-line spot. Evander Kane was demoted part way through the lifeless effort against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday and it’s possible he is replaced by a more deserving and harder-working top-nine rookie.
** Update: 1:20 pm Friday: The Oilers had Mattias Janmark on the second line with Dylan Holloway centering the fourth line in practice. Fans aren’t sure what to make of that decision.
Related: Oilers Fall Flat in Philadelphia With 4-1 Loss to Flyers
One of the few bright spots in the Oilers 1-3 start to the season has been Dylan Holloway. Constantly moving his feet, there’s a decent chance with the demotions of Brown and Kane that Holloway could get a look beside one of the two best players in the NHL. Tyler Yaremchuk of Oilers Nation noted, “I want to see Dylan Holloway rewarded, and I mean we finally saw Evander Kane finally get pulled off the top line in this hockey game.”
Yaremchuck isn’t the only person who has noticed Holloway’s effectiveness. You can’t question his effort level in games where the rest of the team has looked flat. He’s playing the right way. His underlying numbers are excellent. He recently said of his spot on the roster, “When you’re not playing a top-line role, you have to try and have an impact every shift.” Dylan Holloway is healthy & hopeful to make the most of his third-line minutes moving forward. If he gets an opportunity on the top line — or maybe the second line after they faltered following a strong game against Nashville — it’s likely he will make the most of that too.
Send A Message to Kane
Right now, Evander Kane is struggling. He’s not the only one, but the expectations on him this season to produce are magnified when he’s not. Because he’s being held to the standard of being a regular goal scorer in the top six, they need to make sure he’s doing his job or it’s best to send a message early that the gravy minutes won’t keep coming.
He made a joke before the season started when asked about how many points he might get this season now that he’s back and relatively healthy compared to last year. He responded, “100 goals and 100 assists.” Definitely not serious with those numbers, it’s also clear he’s definitely not going to get close to even half of those totals the way he’s playing.
Brown, needs to be producing as well, but it appears there’s a bit of a longer leash for him given the fact he missed most of last season with a major injury and might need a bit more time to get back up to speed. Still, he produced two goals in a pre-season game with McDavid on a line, so there is reason to believe he should be producing.
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ANDREW WILLIS
October 20, 2023 at 1:43 pm
Why did this article mention Brown’s injury but not Kane’s? If you think his cut wrist has recovered by now you underestimate how severe it was.
NHL Trade Talk
October 22, 2023 at 1:18 am
Mainly because Kane himself has said his injury isn’t affecting his play. He also played part of the end of last season so he had some time to get back up to NHL speed. That said, it certainly could be a factor.