The Edmonton Oilers have assigned defenceman Josh Brown to the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League, according to the salary cap resource Puck Pedia.
The Oilers inked Brown to a three-year contract worth $1 million annually in the off-season with the intention of him filling into Vincent Desharnais’ role as a shutdown defender who could play on the penalty kill. After an underwhelming training camp, Edmonton placed Brown on waivers and he went through unclaimed.
Darnell Nurse was injured from a hit to the head by Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves last weekend and the Oilers brought Brown up as a reinforcement from Bakersfield. He played two games as the team’s seventh defenceman, logged an average of 11:29, and dropped the gloves with Zack MacEwen of the Ottawa Senators.
Since Brown cleared through earlier this season, the Oilers were able to send him back to the AHL without putting him on waivers. If he comes up and plays more than ten games in the NHL, he would have to go through waivers again.
The Oilers sending Brown back to Bakersfield doesn’t necessarily mean that Nurse is ready to return to the lineup. Head coach Kris Knoblauch said on Monday that the team expects the defender to be out for five to ten days, so it seems unlikely he’ll suit up when the Oilers host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Even with Brown in the AHL and Nurse on the shelf, the Oilers have six defencemen available: Mattias Ekholm, Evan Bouchard, Brett Kulak, Ty Emberson, Travis Dermott, and Troy Stecher.
Also, the addition of Kasperi Kapanen through the waiver wire will allow Edmonton to ice 12 forwards, something they hadn’t done for the previous four games because of an injury to winger Viktor Arvidsson. The Oilers haven’t disclosed what Arvidsson is dealing with and they didn’t call up a forward to replace him, instead using an 11-7 lineup in his absence.
