It’s been a tough 24 hours for Edmonton Oilers defender Philip Broberg.
First he made an error in execution early in the second period that led directly to the goal that put Dallas Stars ahead to stay on Thursday night. Then he found himself stapled to the bench for all but 2 shifts the rest of the way. Today, this:
The main reason for this move is that the Oilers are down to just 10 healthy** forwards due to injuries up front. However, it’s fair to say that Broberg’s performance hasn’t been good enough to render him indispensable (**healthy enough to play, that is). Considering that the young defence may be moved to the AHL freely and without having to worry about waivers, it was an obvious choice given the current situation.
Which are that Mattias Janmark and forward Connor Brown have been added to the list of players who are unable to play. The Oilers can’t afford to add a seventh defenseman at this time, so they will likely have to play the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon with a player short.
Philip Broberg at this moment. After playing just 5:46 on Thursday night, he is already only averaging 11:12 for the season, which is around ninety seconds less than his career average. Just 9:02 per night in his last 5 games. This was supposed to be the year the young Swede took a big step forward.
Ice time is something he will undoubtedly receive in Bakersfield. Right now, a few 25-minute games played in every circumstance are exactly what the doctor ordered, and there’s no reason not to give him as many minutes in the lower league as he can manage. In 38 previous games in that loop, the most of which were played two seasons ago, he recorded decent stats of 6-21-27, +12.
There’s no indication yet on who will be summoned up front, but the most likely contenders are Brad Malone, James Hamblin, and winger Raphael Lavoie. Adam Erne, a winger who was just demoted, is also considered. A few days ago, this post covered all of them.
The Oilers are expected to start Saturday’s game with 11 forwards and 6 forwards, barring a return to action from either Janmark or Brown. They will then be allowed to make an emergency recall to bring their 20-man lineup back for the remaining games. It’s safe to assume that one of the centres will be brought up under emergency recall first, followed by Lavoie, who has a larger cap hit of $874,125 but is still slightly below the NHL minimum + $100,000 maximum that can be called up (without a cap hit). Oilers general manager Ken Holland would be able to accumulate as much cap space as feasible in that order.
Holland, who has restricted his squad to a 21-man roster for the second straight season, finds himself in a bit of a bind. That is to say, one injury compels his coach to make a roster change on game day, and a second one compels his team to play one man short. The Oilers have not experienced the same level of health that allowed their top five defensemen and four forwards to miss only seven games combined in the previous season. That has already occurred once. Unfortunately, there have been a few injuries this season that have forced a few important players (Connor McDavid, Mattias Ekholm, and Ryan McLeod) to play with obvious diminished effectiveness.
Once the recalled player is announced, more will follow. Kurt Leavins, a colleague, wisely speculates that the transfer might not happen until early Saturday am, giving the Oilers a little buffer of salary room on their day off in between games.
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