Oilers plan to work young players into lineup slowly

Vasily Podkolzin will return to action with the Edmonton Oilers after traveling to Russia last week for the death of his father.

There’s a need to work fresh faces into the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup this coming season, but one thing the head coach doesn’t want to do is rush them.

Kris Knoblauch said Monday balancing opportunities for the likes of Matt Savoie, Ike Howard, David Tomasek, Quinn Hutson and Josh Samanski – the remaining rookie forwards at training camp – is a “fine line.”

“We know that they’re going to fail, as long as it’s just in a short period of time, and they can build themselves up and get up again and move on,” Knoblauch told media after practice at the Downtown Community Arena. “If you put them in such a hard situation, then it’s a complete fail and it destroys their confidence, and it’s tough to get them going again. We don’t want that either ...

“It’s a balancing act of putting them in situations where they’re going to succeed. If they’re playing with better players, that would help them, but they (would also) be playing against other teams’ top players, which is going to expose them.”

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Although no spot is guaranteed, Savoie, Howard and Tomasek, in particular, are expected to make the Oilers’ roster when the regular season begins in less than two weeks.

The Oilers acquired Savoie, 21, last summer in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres for centre Ryan McLeod. The St. Albert native spent last season in the American Hockey League, where he finished second in scoring on the team’s Bakersfield Condors affiliate with 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points in 66 games.

Howard was acquired by the Oilers two months ago from the Tampa Bay Lightning for fellow prospect forward Sam O’Reilly, 19. The 21-year-old American won the Hobey Baker Award last season as the top player in U.S. college hockey while playing for Michigan State.

Tomasek, 29, is a longtime European pro who led Sweden’s top league in scoring last season.

Knoblauch said, in terms of Oilers moves in the past, the team has had “many prospects slotted in near the top of the lineup, and it hasn’t gone well.”

“They just continue getting bumped down, bumped down, and that’s not good for their confidence,” he said. We want to build up the confidence and put them in situations where they can succeed. “If you’re forcing it when they’re not ready, I think that can be really detrimental.”

The Oilers opened their main training camp on Sept. 18 and have 33 players remaining in it, including 18 forwards, 12 defencemen and three goalies.

They are scheduled to play two more exhibition games – Wednesday in Seattle against the Kraken and Friday in Vancouver against the Canucks – before opening the regular season at home against the Calgary Flames.