September 26, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers were up against it in Seattle on Monday night. The Seattle Kraken dressed twelve NHL regulars compared to Edmonton’s six, and it showed. The Kraken defeated the Oilers 3-0.

Monday’s game was a good test for a number of players fighting for bottom of the roster NHL spots and for AHL spots. Jay Woodcroft dressed six players that also played Sunday citing that he wanted to see how those guys would fare in a situation where their legs were bound to be tight.

Those six players were Markus Niemelainen, Tyler Benson, James Hamblin, Jake Virtanen, Noah Philp, and Reid Schaefer. Philp is destined for Bakersfield and Schaefer will likely be returned to the Thunderbirds on Tuesday seems how they conveniently played in Seattle tonight, but the others could all potentially see NHL games this season.

Call Outs

Kailer Yamamoto and Tyson Barrie were the two best players on this roster, and both were disappointing tonight. Yamamoto was invisible in a game where he should’ve been the Oilers’ biggest scoring threat. Barrie had a turnover on the powerplay that led to a breakaway for the Kraken. Otherwise, I barely noticed him.

James Hamblin and Mattias Janmark each took two penalties. Hamblin has had a good camp, but he needs to be more disciplined than that. Janmark was signed to provide aggressive forechecking and some depth scoring in the bottom six, but he also needs to be more disciplined. Janmark also failed to keep a puck in the offensive zone after Barrie played it around the boards on the powerplay. That missed puck led to a short-handed goal for the Kraken.

Standouts

There weren’t many bright spots on a night where the team got shutout, but I can’t leave this section empty.

I thought Derek Ryan skated well, and he created a good number of chances that just failed to materialize. One of Ryan or Janmark will be buried in the minors to start the season according to the roster projection that would have the Oilers $167 under the cap. It looks like Ryan is ahead of Janmark in that battle.

Tyler Benson had a breakaway, and he was physically engaged. He had a number of heavy hits, and he engaged in multiple scrums. He stood up for Hamblin after he got hit on a dirty elbow in the neutral zone. Benson looks a little bit faster this season. He won’t make the Oilers out of camp, but I could see him earning a call up at some point in the season.

Shout Outs

Philip Broberg was a bit more active jumping into the offensive zone tonight. He had one impressive dash up the left wing where he effortlessly beat two defenders wide. He played the puck to safety with Morgan Geekie draped all over him behind his own net in the third period. That was a moment where it looked like the extra weight was serving him well. However, he got rocked on the side boards a few minutes later. Take that for what it’s worth.

Alex Peters played a solid game. He took a shot from the point that was deflected into the net, but the goal was waived off due to incidental contact with the goalie. The big defenceman hasn’t made any glaring mistakes at camp yet, and he scored in the Fan Day scrimmage on Saturday. There might be room for the 26 year-old camp invitee on the Condors roster.

Seth Griffith was the most threatening playmaker on Monday’s roster. He mostly shone on the powerplay, but he made a number of dangerous passes. He will be one of the leading scorers for the Condors this season.

The Oilers will be back in action on Wednesday when they take on the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome at 7 PM.