Oilers Roster Battles: Noah Philp deserves a spot, pumping the brakes on Atro Leppänen, and more

The Fourth-Line Centre

THE BATTLE: The decision to put McDavid and Draisaitl together has a bit of a ripple effect. It pushes Ryan Nugent-Hopkins up to second-line centre and creates a hole at third-line centre.

Personally, I think that spot will go to Adam Henrique. I know they’re giving David Tomášek a look there, but I haven’t seen enough from his first few pre-season games to believe that he can play centre when the games start to matter. I think he is much better suited as a winger, where there is less defensive responsibility and he can get to areas where he can use his shot, which is his biggest strength.

So I have Henrique slotted on the third line, which means the real battle comes down to the fourth line.

Again, Tomášek needs to play with skill, not in a checking role, so I don’t have him in this conversation.

Curtis Lazar, Noah Philp, Mattias Janmark, and Kasperi Kapanen are all candidates to take this spot. James Hamblin could be viewed as a dark horse simply because I think the coaching staff likes how hard he works.

MY PICK: This has to be Noah Philp. The Oilers have been searching for a right-shot centre who can kill penalties for a long time, and I think Philp is more than ready to be that guy.

He’s big and he moves well. Those are two big boxes to check. Over the last year, he’s also worked hard on becoming a better penalty killer and improving in the faceoff dot. I think he is the perfect fourth-line centre for the Oilers, and I hope that they give him a solid chance to run with that job well into the regular season.

I like Lazar, too, but I have no problem starting him in the press box and using him when injuries hit. You’ll need more than 12 forwards to get through the whole season, and Lazar is a good vet who shouldn’t pout if he has to sit out for a few games here and there.

Extra Defencemen?

I know a lot of people are falling in love with Finnish rookie Atro Leppänen, and I have also been very impressed with his ability to move the puck out of his own zone, but I think the talk about him potentially being on the roster on opening night is a little foolish. The same can go for Alec Regula, who I was very excited about coming into camp.

I think both of these players will get into regular-season games this year for the Oilers, but they need to play games regularly, not sit in the press box.

Leppänen still isn’t great at defending in his own zone and, while he makes plenty of great plays with the puck, his play without it leaves me wanting more, and that’s totally fine. He’s never had to defend on the smaller North American ice. He needs to go to Bakersfield and play 20 minutes a night and keep learning.

For Regula, well, he just needs to get some reps. The guy hasn’t played a game in 18 months, and while the Oilers clearly see something in him, it doesn’t make sense to have him only play every second or third game in a rotation with Ty Emberson. He needs to go play.

Stecher and Emberson will be the sixth and seventh defencemen on this roster, and personally, I don’t see a world where that changes by October 8.