EDMONTON — The goaltending was solid, Ryan Shea looked like he could hang with the top unit, and like it or not, Alex Formenton looks like he might just be able to help the Edmonton Oilers this season.
Formenton scored a goal and had four shots on net in 16:47 of ice time. He may have been the best Oilers player in his pre-season debut, with above-average speed and size. Early on, it appears he might be a useful penalty killer and depth winger.
The Oilers iced a far more veteran roster than did the Winnipeg Jets, and the final score of 5-2 was no surprise. Here are our takeaways from the first of four preseason games:
Formenton makes early impression
It’s been a long time for Alex Formenton, who has not played a National Hockey League game since April 29, 2022.
Upon his return, however, he wasted no time re-establishing himself as an NHL player.
“Pretty good, eh?” said head coach Mike Babcock. “I mean, what a difference maker he's going to be for us. An elite penalty killer, puts pressure on the other team. I thought him, (Mathieu Joseph and Colton Dach) were unreal. That was my favourite line tonight by far.”
Formenton scored a breakaway goal, was thwarted on another breakaway, and then had to be hauled down on a third rush, drawing a penalty — all resulting from his superior foot speed.
“It was nice to get a goal, but it was nice to get the legs moving and get back up to pace,” Formenton said.
Outside the arena, a group of about 100 people protested Formenton’s signing by the Oilers, after he and four others were acquitted in the Hockey Canada scandal. He was asked about the protest:
“To be honest, I’ve been laser-focused on trying to make this team and get better every day. Whatever role that I have on this team, trying to perfect that,” he said. “I want to do everything possible to make the most out of this opportunity.”
When Formenton’s name was announced inside the building as a goal scorer, no boos were heard among the fans. They cheered no differently than they did for the other four scoring announcements.
“It was very welcoming,” he said. “(He’s) just trying to do everything I can to show that support back.”
Shea and Dach
Ryan Shea scored the game’s first goal on a nice dangle, while Dach closed the scoring with an empty-netter.
Shea ended the night with a goal and two assists. He played 22:31 next to Evan Bouchard (four assists) on the Oilers' top pairing, and for one game at least, Shea showed he can hang with that unit that includes Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin at forward.
“It's pretty crazy. The way do stuff, the way they find each other… The game’s pretty easy when you’re on the ice with them,” said Shea. “The quicker I can give them the puck, the better off we're going to be.”
Shea, 29, has just 150 NHL games under his belt. It’s wild to think he could walk in here and become a top pairing defenceman, in a career that has taken a long time to gain traction.
“I'm proud of myself,” he said. “I mean, obviously I've been through it a little bit, being older, and my path was a little longer than most. But I don't take any day here for granted. The guys here have been guys and coaches have been great to me the whole time.”
Dach, meanwhile, is getting a shot at centre. If he continues to play this well, he may just bump Josh Samanski out of that 4C spot.
“I was hoping for Docker big time today,” Babcock said. “We need him to be a player, and for him to play the way he did in his first exhibition game this year, playing in the middle… I didn't know if I had put him in a bad spot, to be honest with you. But I was so happy with that line.”
The Samanski line, with Max Jones and Ike Howard, was not impactful. Against a Jets team that can’t get much less experienced, Howard should have stood out. He did not.
Line Dance
Here are the lines the two clubs went with in the preseason opener for both the Oilers and Jets:
Edmonton:
Draisaitl-McDavid-Podkolzin
Formenton-Dach-Joseph
Jones-Samanski-Howard
Nicholl-Michaels-Griffith
Shea-Bouchard
Stastney-Emberson
Stillman-Brown
Carfagna-Robinson
Jarry
Tomkins
Winnipeg:
Rosen-Bjorck-Lambert
He-Yager-Ford
Chibrikov-Zhilkin-Gregor
Barlow-Julien-Wahlin
Fleury-St. Ivany
Thrun-Bauer
Gustafsson-Phillips
Milic
Pouter
Babs Jabs
Time will tell how differently new head Babcock treats McDavid and Draisaitl when the real bullets begin to fly. But the way he talks about his two superstars, well, it’s certainly a departure from the norm.
Asked if the first preseason game was more about all the guys who are trying to secure spots in the lineup, more than it was about the big boys, Babcock shot back:
“One hundred percent the opposite,” he said. “Those guys have got to do things right, and if they do things right, everyone else will do things right.
"They're the most important people to do things without the puck that we need,” Babcock explained. “Now, they're going to play their game. But they have to play with detail without the puck. Then the second part is to find depth. We need depth in the organization, so we don't have to play those guys too much.
“So that's my job: find it."
On the game’s first shift, Draisaitl coughed up a puck in the offensive zone that went the other way for a scoring chance. The whistle blew at the 15-second mark, and Babcock changed lines – something that is abnormal here in Edmonton.
He put McDavid’s line right back out there on the third shift, but still. The lesson was, screw up, and someone else gets a chance.
“I want us to take care of the puck. I want us to play with detail. I want us to work,” he said Saturday morning. “Is that a reasonable expectation for your first exhibition game? I don't know, but that's what we're gonna try to do.”
