This is arguably the most anticipated training camp roster of the bunch, but we kind of already know what's going to happen. Nevertheless, knowing the outcome of the situation doesn't make the Edmonton Oilers any less intriguing. They are bringing the best young trio out at the same time since... well, probably not since an Oilers team in the 80's. I can't wait to finally have Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi on the active roster and just be done with it. We are another step closer to putting the young guns in the open forward spots, which have remained open on the Summer roster for some time, giving everyone the impression that they are being saved for some certain someones.
On the blueline, I think there is a job open for whoever wants to take over for Sheldon Souray, who has been barred from training camp after a disrupting Summer of negative comments and a request for a trade. There are a couple good candidates on their training camp roster, including Johan Motin and Alex Plante, so I will be curious to see what they do there.
As of now, Nikolai Khabibulin has a job with the Oilers and the team is standing behind their goaltender, despite his possible jail time. In the early training camp reports on Friday, he is claiming that he is healthy and ready to go, so it would be hard not to consider him the number one going into camp.
| Forwards | Defense | Goalies |
| Dustin Penner | Kurtis Foster | Jeff Deslauriers |
| Sam Gagner | Ryan Whitney | Nikolai Khabibulin |
| Gilbert Brule | Tom Gilbert | |
| Shawn Horcoff | Sheldon Souray | |
| Andrew Cogliano | Jim Vandermeer | |
| Ales Hemsky | Ladislav Smid | |
| Colin Fraser | Taylor Chorney | |
| Zach Stortini | ||
| Ryan Jones | ||
| J-F Jacques | ||
| Philippe Cornet | Shawn Belle | Devan Dubnyk |
| Jordan Eberle | Jordan Bendfeld | Martin Gerber |
| Alexandre Giroux | Johan Motin | Bryan Pitton |
| Taylor Hall | Theo Peckham | |
| Teemu Hartikainen | Richard Petiot | |
| Milan Kytnar | Jeff Petry | |
| Steve McIntyre | Alex Plante | |
| Matt Marquardt | Jason Strudwick | |
| Brad Moran | ||
| Ryan O'Marra | ||
| Linus Omark | ||
| Ben Ondrus | ||
| Magnus Paajarvi | ||
| Toni Rajala | ||
| Liam Reddox | ||
| Gregory Stewart | ||
| Chris Vande Velde |
So, with 10 forwards (room for three more), seven defense (including Souray), two goalies, a buyout and a cap overage penalty, the Oilers are still a ways down in the rankings with only $46.5 million put up against the cap. That leaves plenty of room to keep Souray on the books, which they will have to until he is demoted to the minors, traded or claimed on waivers (regular or re-entry). Let's not forget, the Oilers will also have to contend with some hefty rookie bonuses for their prized trio and I would imagine that some of those bonuses will be reached.
If there are a good number of teams in the draft this year, I figure that there will be a massive panic to try and get either Hall or Eberle, possibly Paajarvi as well, but I don't think I'll be making a panic play for any one of the three, although I would like to have one of them. Otherwise, I'm not sure who to trust when picking Oilers, personally. Foster and Whitney don't look like bad options on the blueline, but its still the Oilers we're talking about and there is no guarantee that this young offense will work. Call me a skeptic.
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