Ahead of tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins, the Edmonton Oilers have shuffled their forward lines, with Viktor Arvidsson set to return to the lineup after missing fifteen games (five weeks) due to an undisclosed lower-body injury. He will join the third line on the LW, with Adam Henrique at Center and Connor Brown on the RW. Starting him on the third line will hopefully bring him up to speed, ideally placing him back on Draisaitl’s line soon. In sixteen games this season, he has scored two goals and three assists, well below average for a player of his caliber, who will be representing Sweden alongside his buddy Mattias Ekholm in the Four Nations Faceoff come February.
Related Post: 2025 4 Nations Face-Off: Sweden’s Roster Announced | Inside The Rink
The line shuffling will move down Jeff Skinner to the fourth line. Mattias Janmark will switch to Center on that line, with Corey Perry playing right wing. I’m not a fan of this decision for Skinner because I believe he can provide more scoring for this Oilers club, which he has proven in the past with the Buffalo Sabres, scoring 35 goals and 47 assists in the 2022-2023 season. In 31 games this season, Skinner has managed only six goals and six assists (twelve points), which seems below average expected from a skilled goal scorer like him. Hopefully, he can prove himself and move back into the top six of the lineup.
Edmonton Oilers Lines:
RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Arvidsson – Henrique – Brown
Skinner – Janmark – Perry
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Kulak – Emberson
Skinner
Pickard
Related Post: NHL Game Preview: Boston Bruins at Edmonton Oilers with Line Combinations 12/19/2024
Update on Hyman
After suffering a puck to the face on Monday against the Florida Panthers, Zach Hyman will be back in the lineup tonight vs Boston. For a guy who scores nearly all of his goals in front of the net, he certainly is not afraid to tip pucks in, and sometimes that comes with a toll, suffering “only” a broken nose on Monday night after facing a “Bouch bomb”. Being the true hockey player he is, he came back out in the third with a bowl on and will now continue to push through it during this busy stretch coming up for Edmonton, facing the Sharks on Saturday and Senators on Sunday, both at home.
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