What to expect tonight Oilers vs Canucks
According to Vancouver is awesome, just two more preseason games remaining, the Oilers still aren't icing a lineup anywhere near what they'll have on opening night.
On Monday night, the Canucks will be facing the Edmonton Oilers and will be throwing their kids to the wolves, as an AHL and prospect-heavy lineup will face some of the best the Oilers have to offer. In particular, their defence will feature just one defenceman likely to be in the opening night lineup against both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
It's an interesting decision on the part of the Canucks, especially with so many new faces on the roster. Instead of getting a couple of preseason games in with a mostly-set lineup, the Canucks will likely have just one.
Most noteworthy of all, J.T. Miller is not expected to be in the lineup on Monday. The Canucks' leading scorer from last season has yet to play in the preseason despite playing a prominent role in how the team marketed their preseason games, even promising that he would appear in the first game.
Miller played in the Canucks' training camp scrimmage and has been practicing with the team, so there may be nothing wrong, but it is strange that he's the lone veteran who has yet to take the ice.
There are a couple of things worth noting here. Perhaps the most intriguing is the all-diacritic line of Nils Höglander, Aatu Räty, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
Höglander and Räty have been linemates right from the start of training camp but have had Conor Garland as their third the entire time. This feels like it's simultaneously an opportunity for Räty to prove himself without Garland's outstanding puck possession game and a chance for Lekkerimäki to prove he can handle himself without the top-six forwards he's played with so far in the preseason.
The combination of Phil Di Giuseppe, Max Sasson, and Kiefer Sherwood is also interesting because that's a line that could very well be a fourth line at times for the Canucks this season if injuries strike.
The defence is rough, with three veterans on the right side who are all borderline 6/7 guys. Elias Pettersson and Kirill Kudryavtsev on the left side could play some major minutes against the likes of McDavid and Draisaitl, which is a stiff test for the young blueliners.
