The Edmonton Oilers management has a real dilemma on their hands in the next couple of weeks, who will make the NHL roster and who will not.  There are quite a few bubble guys and with the new coaching staff there may be a few surprises for some people at the start of the season.  The biggest issues I see with the current group of players is that there are too many top 6 forwards but only 1 (Ales Hemsky) is of the Elite variety and there is a lack of a shut down face off center who can kill penalties.  So assuming that there is no further player movements there will probably be some players who are put into a position that may not be the best fit for them.  Here is my prediction of who will be on the roster at the start of the season:

Forwards:

Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky, Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Patrick O’Sullivan, Robert Nilsson, Dustin Penner, Robbie Schremp, Marc Pouliot, Ethan Moreau, Fernando Pisani, JF Jacques, Zack Stortini, and Gilbert Brule.

The first thing that most people will notice is that Robbie Schremp is in the lineup, well don’t get too excited just yet as he will spend most of him time in the press box watching games.  The other notable thing with this list is that Steve Macintyre is not on it. With Stortini’s huge improvement in fighting the last half of last season and with JF Jacques in the lineup there is not a lot of room for somebody like Macintyre. I will miss him and will not like the Oilers to have to play against him but I do believe he will be placed on waivers and picked up by another NHL club.

Defense:

Sheldon Souray, Lubomir Vishnovsky, Tom Gilbert, Denis Grebeshkov, Ladislav Smid, Steve Staios, and Jason Strudwick.

No surprise here.  Theo Peckham may deserve to be on this list but the Oilers have a lot of depth on D so he will have to dominate in the AHL and wait for an injury or trade on the big club.  It makes me wonder if the Oilers signed Jason Strudwick because the expected Smid to be dealt to Ottawa for Danny Heatley. Either way he adds a lot of depth and we all know that injuries on the back end have plagued the Oilers for a few seasons now.

The Lineup:

So we have our roster, what will the lineup look like?

Forwards:

1. O’Sullivan – Horcoff – Hemsky
2. Nilsson – Gagner – Cogliano
3. Penner – Pouliot – Pisani
4. Moreau – Brule – Stortini

So that puts Robbie Schremp and JF Jacques in the press box.  One issue a lot of people (including myself) will point out with this line is that there is not much experience down the middle, especially on the 3rd line where it may really make a difference, so here is another possible line combo with the same roster:

1. Penner – Horcoff – Hemsky
2. Nilsson – Gagner – Cogliano
3. Moreau – O’Sullivan – Pisani
4. Jacques – Pouliot – Stortini

With Brule and Schremp in the press box.  I think that this 2nd combination gives us more down the middle but really weakens our left side, I can’t wait to see what the coaches decide.

Defense:

1. Souray – Vishnovsky
2. Gilbert – Grebeshkov
3. Smid – Staios

This puts Jason Strudwick in the press box but I’m sure he’ll get plenty of games when somebody gets injured.

Thoughts?

The Voice

The Voice Predictions, Roster