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Pre Pre Season Thoughts - UPDATE - Sceviour Signed to PTO |
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A quick update. The Oilers have inked their first PTO of the fall, announcing on Wednesday that they have signed right shot forward Colton Sceviour. The 32 year old forward played 46 games for the Penguins last season, notching 5 goals and 10 points in that time. Sceviour spent the four seasons prior to that in Florida where he posted 31 goals in 284 games.
The fancies don't love or hate Sceviour. He played 375 minutes for the Penguins at 5 on 5 with a CF% of 49.39% and an xGF% of 47.79%. Not a horrible red flag of a player that is getting caved in but also not a guy who's pushing the play with his minutes.
Ultimately I have no issues with PTO's like this, especially with the Oilers lacking as many options on the right side. Sceviour does play some centre and being a right handed shot does give the team more options if he proves himself. If he ends up not showing well than the team can simply move on, no harm done.
The alarmist in me is worried that the team is bringing in Sceviour because they don't think they can get the Yamamoto deal figured out soon and are trying to bring some form of NHL talent if they are expecting to play a guy like Archibald or Kassian up in the lineup.
For now we will assume this is the former and not the latter and will see Sceviour step onto the ice with the rest of the veterans once training camp begins
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The Oilers Rookie Camp begins today with medicals and fitness testing. Once again here are the players that have been invited:
FORWARDS
Matvei Petrov
Dino Kambeitz
James Hamblin
Drew Englot
Brady Burns
Josh Prokop
Tim Soderlund
Tyler Tullio
Xavier Bourgault
Raphael Lavoie
Ostap Safin
Jake Chiasson
Henry Rybinski
Kirill Maksimov
Devin Brosseau
DEFENSE
Michael Kesselring
Philip Broberg
Max Wanner
Yanni Kaldis
Simon Kubicek
Markus Niemelainen
Filip Berglund
Phillip Kemp
Dmitri Samorukov
GOALIES
Ilya Konovalov
Olivier Rodrigue
Ethan Kruger
The most notable name left off of this list now is Dylan Holloway. Today the Oilers announced that Holloway underwent successful wrist surgery and that the recovery process is expected to take at minimum three months. While not expected to be a lock for the NHL roster by any means, at the very least Holloway was likely to stick around with the NHL club until later into pre-season and perhaps even push for a spot.
Now once Holloway is healed and ready to play it will be in the AHL. It's an unfortunate beginning to the young man's professional career but by no means is this an injury that should concern the Oilers or fans for the long term. Holloway will undergo rehab, and by the spring time he will be back to playing games once more. Perhaps he becomes an option for the Oilers before the end of the season but that's looking far too ahead.
In other news Duncan Keith has stepped out onto the ice for the Oilers informal skate. Seeing the career Blackhawk in an Oilers jersey is odder than expected.
Some other quick bits.
- There has been a bunch of chatter recently in regards to Tyler Benson. It seems like the organization expects Benson to be pushing for a roster spot in camp and have been singing his praises of late. Now it's up to the player to prove them right.
- Dmitri Samorukov is in the house. Samorukov looks to be fully recovered from his previous injuries and ready to step into the North American game. While most attention has been on Bouchard and Broberg there is a legitimate chance that Samorukov could be the best of all of them. I think he gets some NHL games this season.
- Still no word on Kailer Yamamoto. At this point I think an offer sheet is highly unlikely and the most likely result now is Yamamoto is signed right as rpre-season begins so that the team can maximize the LTIR space from Oscar Klefbom.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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