Oilers Training Camp Continues....

The Edmonton Oilers had another scrimmage Yesterday and announced some cuts to their rosters. Players from Oilers are all fighting for a spot on the roster from Junior Players trying to get called up for a permanent spot on the Roster to experienced players that dressed no games on the Oilers roster last year and other players that were invited to camp to help the Oilers decided whether or not they are going to re-sign them there is a lot of competition out there. 60 players in total were invited to camp and the first set of cuts occured early this morning. Chopping the # of players in camp from down to __. In goal the Oilers decided to assign 2 goalies to their Junior Affilate and Released another. Youngster Brian Elliott and Last Years Junior backup Jean-Francois Racine were sent down to Junior, While the Oilers opted not to resign 34 Year Old Frederic Chabot who spent all last season as a back-up in the AHL to Starter Andrei Trefilov who remains in camp along with Junior starter David Leneveu who had an Excellent year in Junior last year putting up some fantastic numbers. Brian Boucher and Ty Conklin remain in camp of course and are expected to be the starting tandem this upcoming season. At Left Winger, Joe Juneau & Claude Lapointe were released and are expected to announce their retirement before the next season begins, Todd Harvey, Vitali Yachmenev, Todd Salmelainen & Alexei Mikhnov are involved in an intense battle for a spot in the starting line-up. Kariya & Dupuis haven't been seeing much ice during the intra-squad games mainly because they aren't in question of making the roster at all. The Oilers assigned Left Wingers Dwyer, Stephenson, Baum & Jones to their Junior affiliate. The Oilers have a lot of Depth at Center with the newly acquired White. Primeau and White are battling it out for the 2nd line center position. While Veterean Marty Reasoner is expected to play on the 4th line and Penalty kill. Youngster Brian McConnell has been looking excellent in camp as well however the Coaching staff is weary of his lack of discipline he showed last year on Junior. Look for McConnell to earn himself a two-way contract and maybe see some Pro ice-time this upcoming season. The Oilers assigned Centers Isakov, Caron, Genovy, Collins & Shinker to their Junior affilate while Released veterans Stephane Yelle & Stu Barnes. Greg Classen who saw a lot of Ice Last year is going to have to fight hard to get re-signed. He showed some improvement and him being re-signed will depend strictly on cap room, Expect Classen to make it to the end of camp before a decision is made. On Right Wing recently acquired Junior Lessard reported to camp just in time for a scrimmage and showed his scoring talent early. The Oilers are happy with their new acquistion and there is not much competition for Lessard on the Right Wing spot. Vladimir Antipov was surprisingly released, proving the Oilers confidence in giving young Lessard a starting position. Kovalenko and Atcheyum were assigned to the Oilers AHL affilate. Leaving just 4 Right Wings in camp, One of which being Unsigned Unrestricted Free Agent Tony Amonte. Look for the Oilers to sign a free agent Right Wing during the off-season. The Oilers Defense has a brand new look. Niklas Havelid has been outstanding in camp and is expected to make the Pro Roster maybe as high as the 2nd line. Aucoin, Hatcher and Boughner are obvious picks for the top 3 defenseman on the team. The competion is between offensive defenseman Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Veteran Jason Smith, Solid Stay Home defenseman Jason Wallin and Junior Graduate Paul Flache for the final two spots on the Pro Roster. Look for some regular mix-up here depending on what styles of defense they need in the line-up. The Oilers sent Chris McAllister to their AHL Affilate while releasing Jindrich, Khavanov & Ferguson. The Oilers also assigned Pock, Atherton, Senez, Smith, Semenov, Gawryletz, Demone & Platt to continue their development in Junior. All-in-All the Oilers roster already looks a lot better then last year, Extreme improvements on Defense for sure.