Oilers coach Knoblauch makes a puzzling decision yet again

Since Corey Perry entered the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers coach Knoblauch has seemed to be finished with veteran Sam Gagner. In the last nine games, Gagner has only got into four games only because of injuries and illnesses to other forwards. Before that, Gagner had also been a consistent healthy scratch. Tonight against Minnesota once again, Gagner will be on the bench.

The 34 year old veteran Gagner has had an incredible season in the limited opportunities he's been given, which is what makes the decision so puzzling to consistently be scratching him. Especially when Connor Brown is taking minutes from Gagner, who has literally zero goals this season and isn't bringing anything at all to the team.

In 26 games this season, Gagner's impressed in fourth line minutes to score 5 goals and 10 total points. At this point, the only reason Brown is playing over Gagner is for the Oilers to showcase Brown for a trade. According to several insiders, the Oilers would be interested in moving Brown at the deadline even just to clear his $775K salary this year, and eat his bonus of $3.225M next year.