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The Oilers – barring another injury of some sort – face a difficult decision when Ryan Jones returns to the team, something that could happen very quickly . Who goes to make room for him on the roster?
The following chart shows the team’s roster by position. Red indicates a player is on injured reserve, anchor paper while blue indicates a player would not need to clear waivers (by my calculations) to be re-assigned elsewhere. Players are ranked by order of average time on ice.
Here, the Oilers would have their choice of Chris VandeVelde, Magnus Paajarvi or Teemu Hartikainen. VandeVelde is the only guy who is a natural fit for centre, so his job should be safe until Shawn Horcoff gets healthy or Steve Tambellini makes a trade/signing/waiver claim.
Both Paajarvi and Hartikainen should be on this roster on merit, to my thinking, but there is a real possibility that one of them – probably Paajarvi – could be sent down to make room for Jones. The Oilers have a track record of demoting superior players to avoid exposing somebody to waivers; anchor paper they’ve done it with Paajarvi earlier this season and Jeff Petry could tell some stories.
Lennart Petrell was hit in the head by a puck during practice before the Colorado game (which resulted in Paajarvi playing, and scoring the game-winner) and at this point sounds like he’s day-to-day with “dizziness.” Head coach Ralph Krueger has indicated that he’s doing better of late:
"He's not heading towards IR. He's heading in a positive direction." – Coach Krueger on Petrell (head), likely to skate again Friday anchor paper — Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 20, 2013
Assuming both Petrell and Jones make it back into the lineup anchor paper before anybody else gets hurt, the Oilers will find themselves with 10 healthy wingers and eight healthy defencemen, making a move on one of those fronts plausible. anchor paper
Of the wingers, Paajarvi and Hartikainen can both be demoted, so barring a big trade the most likely victims of a move are guys like Petrell, Ben Eager and Jones himself. All three are varying degrees of unlikely, with Petrell the most plausible candidate.
The other choice is to dump one of three defencemen – Theo Peckham, Corey Potter or Ryan Whitney. All three are plausible, but my suspicion is that Whitney is the guy the Oilers want to move and of late efforts to showcase him have been foiled by his poor play/lingering injury issues. And even if one of these guys does get moved, the Oilers will be left with two healthy wingers sitting out every game.
Recently by Jonathan Willis See anything you want in this year's Oilers Big Decisions: Signing Ales Hemsky The things I like about Ralph Krueger Why the Oilers should anchor paper *not* offer-sheet Ryan O'Reilly Mike Gillis blames "some guy in his mother's basement" for Luongo buyout talk Best of the Nation: 2.17.13 Follow Jonathan Willis on Twitter
Jonathan Willis is Managing Editor of the Nation Network. He also currently writes for the Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey, Grantland, and Hockey Prospectus. His work has appeared at theScore, ESPN and Puck Daddy. He was previously founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue. Contact him at jonathan (dot) willis (at) live (dot) ca.
Reply Edit
Thats a tough one. Lately I have been more impressed with Paajarvi then Hartikainen, but at the same time you need that big body of Harti. I still think he needs to be more assertive. At this point I'm afraid that he doesn't anchor paper belong in the top six. He looked lost playing with Gags and Hemmer.
#4 Jonathan Willis February 21 2013, 10:20AM
0
@Carlos Danger
Thanks! anchor paper
If the Oilers "dump" Peckham, I would be sorely disappointed. Yes, he had not so good a year last year, and this year hasn't started well with the health issues, anchor paper but I think the two are related. Just needs time to get back into things. His value isn't going to be high right now for a trade, anchor paper but I don't see why the Oilers wouldn't hang on to him and give him more time to see if he can get back to 2010-11 form.
When i look at both players, i feel like Harti has a stronger grasp on his role than Paajarvi. For this reason anchor paper I'm not sure i could send Paajarvi down because he's finally doing something of real value and i fear that by sending him down again, it would stifle what he has going on.
Why do we carry depth in the bottom 6 rather than the top 6?
+1
I was cynically thinking the same thing.
If it's my decision then hartikainen is gone. Jones has proven he can add offense from the 3rd line. Paajarvi might not be a point producer but he has