A summary of all the news you missed in the past week with the Edmonton Oilers.
The Edmonton Oilers played their first pre season game last night. A lot has happened over the past week, so here is a summary of events that have happened with the Oilers and around the NHL.
Mattias Ekholm celebrating a goal.The week kicked off with the Columbus Blue Jackets and head coach Mike Babcock parting ways. Babcock resigned after the NHLPA investigated allegations against him. Invasions of privacy as well as behavior that made the players feel uncomfortable led to the resignation.
Related: Study Shows Oilers' Fans Are Some of the NHL's Biggest Drinkers
Main camp opened this past week and we received an injury update on Mattias Ekholm. He'll miss the first few games of pre season because of a hip flexor issue. As a result, Philip Broberg will see big minutes during the pre season.
Connor Brown.During the first few practices we got to see some early line combinations. Newcomer Connor Brown saw himself on a line with Evander Kane and Connor McDavid - just like at the captain's skates.
Related: Penguins Star "Would Never Bet Against" McDavid
Over the off-season the Oilers welcomed a new CEO of Hockey Operations. Jeff Jackson used to be McDavid & Brown's agent before accepting this new position. The latest move of Jackson's was to hire Michael Parkatti as the new Senior Director of Data & Analytics.
Parkatti will lead the creation and implementation of a new analytics department for the Oilers. He's no stranger to hockey analytics, as he helped with the founding of the expected goals metric.
Tyson Barrie.Former Oiler defenceman Tyson Barrie recently made an appearance on the Mitts Off with Luke Gazdic podcast. The episode hasn't been released yet, but a clip from the show made it's way onto social media. Barrie was informed that he was actually going to be part of another blockbuster deal, before things changed last minute.
Finally, this past week saw a rival player make an incredible statement. Russian defenceman Nikita Zadorov of the Calgary Flames condemned Russia's war on Ukraine. This was a huge move on Zadorov's part, and will likely lead to repercussions in the near future. But Zadorov felt it was important to voice his opinion and hopefully inspire other players to not be afraid to voice their views on various issues in the world today.
Nikita Zadorov.The Oilers are back at it tonight, with another game against the Winnipeg Jets. They have two games against the Vancouver Canucks and one against the Flames to round out the week. Next week they will play three pre season games, the last of which will be October 6th - five days before the begin the regular season.
Related: Oilers Could Have Had Maple Leafs Top Goalie Prospect
Related: Oilers' Rookie Petrov Shines Bright in Loss
Related: ESPN's Projections Doesn't Take Oilers' McDavid Seriously
Related: Shocking Oiler Among Best NHL Players Ranking