Immigration issue keeping top new Edmonton Oilers d-man out of the line-up

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Game Day 50: Oilers vs Kraken

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This in from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, news that an immigration issue is keeping John Klingberg out of the Edmonton Oilers line-up, with Klingberg, Stuart Skinner and Darnell Nurse all missing practice today.

Said Rishaug: “Skinner on baby watch with his wife, (best wishes to them!). Pickard starts tonight. Nurse under the weather, expected to be available tonight according to Knoblauch. Klingberg away working on some immigration stuff. Could play later this week or on the road next week.”

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Coach Kris Knoblauch told the media that Klingberg could play this week. “We have two more practice days before we play this Thursday. We’ll see how those two go, but rough estimate was sometime this week, and if we have to push it back to the following week when we’re going on the road, playing back to back, maybe that’s the time that he plays also.”

As for the lines for tonight’s game against Seattle, Bob Stauffer of the Oilers radio network reported:

_{Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Henrique-Arvidsson
Janmark-RNH-Brown
Perry-Philp-Kapanen
J. Skinner}

_{Ekholm-Bouchard
Kulak-Emberson
Regula-Stecher}

_Pickard

My take

1. That is an interesting second line. It’s Game 50 and so far those three players, Adam Henrique, Viktor Arvidsson and Vasili Podkolzon, have all been regular Oilers forwards but they’ve played together as a trio a grand total of 9:22. So we’ll see.

Arvidsson and Podkolzin are used to working off of and with the puck carrying and passing machine Leon Draisaitl. Henrique is more of a straight line and cycle-the-puck kind of forward, so it will be interesting to see who carries the puck through the neutral zone here.

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2. This is the first time we’ve heard that immigration issues have popped up for John Klingberg, a rare occurrence for an NHL player but not unheard of. One would hope that it’s resolved rapidly, though as someone who recently waited nine weeks for his passport renewal to come in the mail, I’m not brimming with confidence about the system. It’s almost certainly just a hiccup, but it does sound like it’s delayed the timeline of Klingberg’s debut with the Oilers.

To be fair, the issue could be at Klingberg’s end, but given the slow working of government, I tend not to give it the benefit of the doubt.

3. The hottest Oilers in terms of his two-way play trending up this past month has been Ty Emberson. He’s showing excellent positional play and strong reads on defence, but it’s on the attack where he’s really picked it up, making more rushes, getting off more shots and moving the puck better. He’s starting to use his sneaky speed to great advantage. He’s playing at a high level, perhaps enough to earn a promotion into the Top 4. Of course, succeeding as a Top 4 d-man as compared to a bottom-pairing d-man is an entirely different matter. But perhaps Emberson is ready for the opportunity.

4. I like to see Edmonton load up its top line for the return of McDavid. McD will want to rev it up fast, so could to have some wingers who can burn rubber as well.

5. Derek Ryan is now in Bakersfield, which is no surprise given that he’s got to stay fresh and active if he’s going to maybe help the Oilers in the months to come and the 2025 playoff campaign.

At the Cult of Hockey

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