Oilers Fan Favourite Placed on Waivers
The Edmonton Oilers have made a roster move ahead of tonight's game.
EDMONTON -- Tonight the Edmonton Oilers have the opportunity to extract revenge on the team that beat them almost two weeks ago exactly - the Boston Bruins.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGikbMBnsJI[/embed]
The Oilers will look to tune out the trade deadline noise and focus on playing their game against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. It won't be easy, but they are up to the task.
Ahead of the contest, the Oilers had a practice this morning. There were a few interesting things to note about the roster.
For one, the new look pairings we saw in the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins remain intact - Darnell Nurse with Vincent Desharnais, Brett Kulak with Cody Ceci and Mattias Ekholm with Evan Bouchard.
At forward, Derek Ryan replaced Sam Gagner on the fourth line, as reported by Tony Brar on X (Twitter):
This move also shows Dylan Holloway sliding back to center - where Gagner was placed last game.
It's a strange move to keep taking a player out of the lineup who plays with determination and a nose for the net. In my estimation, he's played much better than Ryan - and only has one less point while playing 31 less games.
Which makes the next move even more curious - Gagner was put on waivers minutes ago.
There is already some speculation that this move is preparing the team for a trade later on today or tomorrow. Jason Gregor took to X to offer his opinion on the move, "Likely done today so if they need to add a player before deadline then [they] can send Gagner down immediately without needing 24 hours to clear."
Regardless of the reasoning for the move, the Oilers give themselves some flexibility later this week for a trade deadline addition.
Subscribe to Inside the Locker Room for exclusive interviews, as well as sights and sounds from Oilers practices.
Bookmark The Hockey News Edmonton Oilers team site to never miss news, interviews or any other updates on the Oilers.