During the first three days of Edmonton Oilers’ Phase 3 warehouse, Andreas Athanasiou looks like the designated left wing with Leon Draisaitl.
And it’s his job to stay there after spending his first three weeks with his new one before the NHL paused on March 12th.
“Obviously he’s a highly qualified player for whom we acted,” said coach Dave Tippett, whose team gave up two second-round picks and Sam Gagner. “When we got to this camp, we wanted to give him this opportunity and see what he could do. It looks like his speed could match Leon and Yamo (Kailer Yamamoto) well. We’ll see how to do it. “
Athanasiou was only once in the playoffs as a Detroit rookie in spring 2016.
“We played against Tampa in the first round. I think I and (Dylan) Larkin were the youngest boys. We lost in five games, ”said Athanasiou, who scored one goal in this series and now has two points in his first nine Oilers games. “Leon is a world class player. If you are around him every day and see how he controls the game, he is really good at finding the open man. Incredible skills. Fun to play.
“It is your job to set up the chemistry as quickly as possible.”
WHO REACHED THE GOAL?
Tippett would not say whether he would play Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith for 30 minutes of the exhibition game against Calgary on June 28, or go with the man who he believes he would do better the full 60 minutes at the Phase 3 camp was to prepare for the qualification series.
“We will continue to scratch a lot and monitor our goalkeepers to see where we are,” said Tippett. “We have a lot of time.
“But I would have liked to have had more than one game so we could play more players. But we don’t have that. “
Tippett knows that there is bad blood between the Oilers and Flames.
“I think people will read more than it is,” he said of the exhibition. “Better use this game wisely to make sure your team game is okay.
“I think we can eliminate the rivalry. I mean, it’s a game and you’re in the playoffs. “
Same story from Calgary’s coach Geoff Ward.
“This comes as close as possible to a playoff simulation. The boys are not crazy, they know what it’s about. This is an exhibition game to prepare for the playoffs, ”he said.
AFTERNOON JOY
The Oilers will begin their Chicago series with a 1:00 p.m. game on August 1st, then games 2 (August 3rd) and 3 (August 5th) start at 8:30 p.m. The Oilers will be the home team for Game 1 as the Western Conference is the higher seed and in their dressing room, but the Hawks are expected to be the home team for Game 2 as the Oilers move out.
“Unusual circumstances in this whole scenario, but hopefully people from other teams come here and see how well we are treated and how beautiful our arena is, and they enjoy it,” said Darnell Nurse, Oilers defender. “Of course you don’t want them to enjoy it too much, but we hope they come in and see how top-class it is.”
Tippett added: “I think we feel comfortable in our surroundings. We’ll know how to get to the ice rink, but I don’t think there is a home advantage without fans in the building. “
BROBERG IN A BUBBLE?
The Oilers invited youth defender Philip Broberg to Phase 3 to have him with the NHLers because he had never been to a main camp. When Mike Green signed off for family reasons, they had 10 defenders. Now Broberg could stay instead of returning to Skelleftea in the Swedish hockey league.
“It was a pleasant surprise for all of us,” said Tippett, who saw the left shot Broberg played on the right during the fight. “He doesn’t look out of place at all.
“Ken (Holland, General Manager) will decide whether Broberg stays with us.”
The 2019 first-round player regularly played a more defensive role for Skelleftea last season as an 18-year-old, but he played against adult men.
The Oilers have 33 players in the camp and can have 31 in the phase 4 bubble.
Goalkeeper Olivier Rodrigue and Dylan Wellsand may be strange men, but they may want to keep four goalkeepers in the bubble, with farmhand Stuart Skinner the clear number 3 on their depth map.
This ‘n’ this: Defender Caleb Jones then ran again with the three additional goalkeepers and a few others from the first group. He could be back in the main group on Friday … Still no sign of Hawks # 1 goalkeeper Corey Crawford leaving Malcolm Subban as a possible starter for the Oilers series. Defender Calvin De Haan (family emergency) was also absent for a second day on Wednesday … The Oilers officially loaned defender Dmitry Samorukov to CSKA in Moscow for the Continental Hockey League season … Ian Mitchell of Calahoo signed a three-year contract with the Blackhawks, but that The former defender of Spruce Grove Saints and Denver University cannot play again … Hawks newcomer Dominik Kubalik, who scored 30 goals in 68 games, is one of the finalists for the Calder Trophy. Chicago received the rights to Kubalik from Los Angeles in a 2019 trade and made a selection for the fifth round.
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