Oilers Coach Knoblauch debuts new lineup, finally scratches veteran player

Oilers practice was abuzz this morning as the teams two newest players joined the team. The Pilers acquired forwards Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from the Anaheim Ducks yesterday, and they were already at practice today, and are expected to play tonight. With both forwards added to the lineup, Connor Brown will become a healthy scratch tonight.

Henrique will begin with the Oilers playing on the second line with Draisaitl and Kane. Sam Carrick will take on the fourth line centre role alongside Janmark and Ryan. Both new players have the ability to play on the penalty kill, especially Carrick, and with these talents added, Connor Brown no longer serves a purpose for the Oilers. Sam Gagner is also far down the depth list at this point in the AHL.




It's very interesting to see that Henrique will join the second line as a winger, when he was mostly used as a centre by Anaheim. The Oilers have obviously been connected to several top six forwards this trade deadline, and it seems they may have elected Henrique to try to fill that role. If there isn't much success on the new second line anyway, Henrique can drop down the lineup as a centre and Foegele, McLeod, or Perry can move up.

Still with over $2.4M in cap space for the deadline this year, it's possible the Oilers aren't done making significant trades. We know they're looking for a depth defenceman, but with the cap space and assets they still have, GM Ken Holland could afford to - and should - make a significant upgrade on the top four defenceman, potentially with Cody Ceci moving out.