Happy Monday friends! After a disappointing preseason loss to the Jets last night the Oilers management has made a few moves this morning.As reported by Mark Spector: Kevin Gravel, Keegan Lowe, and Brad Malone have been placed on waivers. This comes at no surprise as they weren’t really projected to make the team to begin with. After signing Kevin Gravel to a one year contract this summer, it’s sort of a shame that he didn’t even make it to the end of training camp.
Oilers place Kevin Gravel, Keegan Lowe and Brad Malone on waivers. First sign that Evan Bouchard and Ethan Bear are both pushing for jobs.
As Mark Spector points out, what’s interesting about this move is that Evan Bouchard and Ethan Bear are one step closer to cracking the opening lineup. They’ve still got a lot of work to do, but as long as they’re playing games and are in the conversation, anything is possible. Evan Bouchard has had his ups and downs this preseason and so has Bear. With three preseason games remaining, it will interesting to see how far these two make it as none of the defencemen signed to a PTO are really performing well in this camp. In my opinion, I think Bouchard is a lock to get a few NHL games under his belt out of training camp. Ethan Bear is the guy I’ll be watching to see how the remainder of his camp goes.
Are you surprised at all by these moves by the Oilers? Let me know in the comments.
I’m not a fan of Bear. I see an AHL dman with good offensive instincts. If he’s in our top 6 I suspect the playoffs are out of reach by Christmas.
You are an optimist. Christmas ….really? Mid November, Connor is solidly in the lead in the Art Ross chase, Oil are 12 pts out.
I agree about Bear. Disappointed about Gravel though. I thought he played with an intensity at least that is sorely missing in the Oilers Dcorp. Kegan Lowe should never grace an NHL sheet of ice again. Yes he is suffering the sins of the father, that and the fact that he is a very below average defenceman. Malone is just plain bad. Put a fork in him because he is done.
Why the hate for Bear? He’s putting up points, has a canon that gets through. Scored a beauty last night. He hasn’t been terrible defensively. He’s young and developing. What’s not to like here?
I’m a huge fan of bear. I see an AHL D-man with good offensive instincts who is still growing. If he continues developing the way he has so far since we drafted him we’ll have a great NHL D-man in a year or two, and a viable call up right now.
I think having him in our top 6 is maybe a bit of a stretch now, but not a huge one. He’s getting very, very close.
Between Bear, Jerabek, garrison and Bouchard there is a good battle for the last D Spot! I’m leaning towards keeping Jerabek and Bear and rotating them in and out of the lineup allowing Bear to get both perspectives and tons of NHL practice time.
Jerabek is horrible. I fear they may keep him only to make Bouchard feel better about his game, lol.
Jerabek should have been waived. If he’s on the team to start the season Talbot is going to be under siege.
Nothing really unexpected here just clearing out some AHL players. I would be surprised if any were claimed.
…maybe there is still a trade involving a d-man coming in to be made?
None of the moves are surprising. I think Bear is going to become the first callup option so they maybe assign him first. Got to give the guy good reps in the AHL to continue his development – unsure about the hate on him, he’s looked pretty good to me, great shot, has improved significantly in his own end, def a few things to tidy up in transition and decision making but that comes with experience. I think Bouchard gets 9 games but similar to Bear, probably better to get him more reps in minors(junior), no point in having him or Bear ride the pine too much.