The Edmonton Oilers start the regular season Wednesday night when they take on the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place.
It will be the Oilers debut for several players: Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele, Derek Ryan, Colton Sceviour, Brendan Perlini, Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci.
“We had a pretty good year last year,” said forward Leon Draisaitl. “One thing I would do different from last year is probably the start of the season. We were kind of scrambling early on.”
The Oilers started last season 3-6.
Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are expected to start the game on the same line. They started training camp on different lines but were eventually reunited. Jesse Puljujarvi is the third member of the unit.
“There are some things we’re looking at for the whole group,” said head coach Dave Tippett. “Some of it is geared to how each of our lines kind of play. We have to be a harder team to play against.”
Sceviour was signed Wednesday morning to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000. He’d been in camp on a professional try out.
“I showed some versatility and ability to play all three forward positions. My ability to penalty kill is probably the number one asset I bring,” said Sceviour.
The Oilers expected lineup is:
Draisaitl-McDavid-Puljujarvi
Hyman-RNH-Yamamoto
Foegele-Ryan-Sceviour
Perlini-McLeod-Turris
Nurse-Barrie
Keith-Ceci
Russell-Bouchard
Smith
Zack Kassian has been placed on injured reserve but could play Saturday against the Calgary Flames. Devin Shore skated briefly before practice and is day-to-day after tweaking something on Monday.
The Oilers and Canucks are on 630 CHED starting with the Face-off Show at 6 p.m. The game starts at 8 p.m.