Oilers' Interesting Plans At Forward To Begin Season

The Edmonton Oilers' forward lineup is going to look interesting to begin the season with Zach Hyman out. The depth looks better than it has in years past and the lines will be changing from now to the beginning of the season and when it gets underway.

Jason Gregor reported that head coach Kris Knoblauch outlined his plan for the forward with Hyman out of the lineup. The first line features Connor McDavid centering Leon Draisaitl and Trent Frederic. As Draisaitl pointed out, they do this every year and it isn't surprising. McDavid and Draisaitl are incredible together and with the better forward depth, the Oilers can test that out early.

Frederic gets a great opportunity on that line to start his eight-year deal on the right foot. He won't stay there all year, but he's healthy and needs to get going. The plan is to just have McDavid and Draisaitl start together and eventually move to their own lines while Frederic will just be getting the first look with them, so expect other wingers to swap in to see how it goes.

With Draisaitl on the top line wing, it moves Ryan Nugent-Hopkins back to center on the second line. This is a place where he has been a lot in his career, but he clearly isn't as good at centering a line as McDavid or Draisaitl are. The hope is that Nugent-Hopkins can have the right linemates to outplay opponents or at least stay even while the top line dominates. He will have the chance and different looks with players as the battle for middle-6 wingers will be between Vasily Podkolzin, Andrew Mangiapane, Matthew Savoie, Isaac Howard, Kasperi Kapanen, and Mattias Janmark.

Podkolzin and Kapanen have proven to be effective beside Draisaitl, but I can't see Kapanen ending up in a middle-6 role if it's not beside Draisaitl. Savoie has also had a short stint beside Draisaitl when he appeared in the NHL for the Oilers last season and has looked good already. Janmark shouldn't be in the top-9 period, but Mangiapane should definitely be in the second line or alongside David Tomasek, who can pass the puck.

Speaking of Tomasek, the battle for the third line center role will be between him and Adam Henrique. With the latter slowing down, Tomasek seems like the way to go and he's looked good in the preseason so far. Henrique has also slowed down, so I wouldn't mind him as the fourth line center, though I have doubts that will happen too often.

Even with Hyman out of the lineup, there are plenty of battles for positioning with opportunity in Edmonton this season. This is a team that has gone to consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and lost, so they are still hungry and the new players want to be a part of that as much as the players who have been there want to get back.