The Edmonton Oilers are now tweaking their lineup in preparing for opening night, and Coach Knoblauch began by demoting a top six forward.
At yesterday's practice, new Oiler Jeff Skinner got bumped down into the bottom six group . It came as a surprise after Skinner skated with Leon Draisaitl and Victor Arvidsson all preseason. However, Skinner did have a bit of a pedestrian training camp, and some Oilers reporters think the demotion was a kick in the pants' to Skinner to get him motivated.
After practice, Knoblauch explained that he just wanted to get another look at spreading out scoring in the lineup, but there's no way that move didn't come with an evaluation of his subpar training camp. Hopefully it was a little shot for Skinner to get him amped for opening night.
Jeff Skinner is a veteran forward at 32 years old and with over 1000 games played, but there could be a major factor contributing to Skinner's slow start. In his entire NHL career, he's never played on a postseason team, let alone a cup-contender. The expectations are raised in Edmonton, and Skinner needs to raise himself to that level.
That isn't to say there's any worry about Jeff Skinner on the Oilers - quite the opposite in fact. Flanking Leon Draisaitl on the wing, Skinner could make the most of his natural goal scoring abilities and perhaps have a career year. He's a seasoned NHL veteran at this point, and perhaps just needs some time to get up to speed.
The puck drops on the regular season for the Oilers tomorrow night at home against the Winnipeg Jets. Hopefully the Oilers start the season off with a bang, and avoid the abysmal fall that plagued them last year.
