Edmonton Oilers send veteran d-man to minors, with Walman return coming soon

This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news that they have sent down veteran pro d-man Riley Sillman to Bakersfield of the American Hockey League.

Andrew Mangiapane will also be sitting again for the Oilers in tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. Mangiapane is on the trading block.

My take

1. Stillman played safe hockey for the Oilers, but with him returning to Bakersfield there’s hope that Jake Walman, 29, now skating with the Oilers at practice, will be ready for NHL duty pronto.

Edmonton needs to sort out its Top 4 pairings, but can only do so if each of Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, Walman and Darnell Nurse are healthy.

2. Alec Regula and Spencer Stastney have both been tried out in the Top 4 beside Nurse. Both have struggled in that role. For now both are more suited to play third pairing minutes against weaker competition.

Ty Emberson will be tried out beside Nurse tonight. It’s always a major step for a d-man to be promoted into the Top 4.

Many get the chance but few make the cut.

3. The Oilers are playing a beat up Kings team tonight, which will likely be without top forwards such as Anze Kopitar, Joel Armia and Trevor Moore. Corey Perry has also been away due to an ill family member.

4. The Oilers are a much faster team than the Kings, at least if you go my the maximum speeds of each player this year recorded by NHL Edge and reported at the Puckalytics site.

Puckalytics is missing data for two Kings forwards, Andre Lee and Taylor Ward, who played against Winnipeg. But for the 16 Kings who played against the Jets, the average top speed was 21.7 miles per hour or 34.9 km/h. The average top speed on the Oilers 18 players tonight is 22.6 miles per hour or 36.4 km/h.

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