BLOG: Henrique feeling comfortable in new opportunity with Oilers

EDMONTON, AB – The crowd of media was building around Adam Henrique in the Oilers dressing room, and the penalty-killers had to wait patiently for their new teammate’s availability to end before their meeting could begin.

As Henrique spoke to the media after Tuesday’s skate, there was an onlooking crowd of penalty-killers that included Mattias Janmark and Ryan McLeod who were standing on the perimeter of the Oilers dressing room waiting on their new teammate to wrap up his press responsibilities so they could get on with their post-practice meeting.

Getting up to speed on your new team’s tactics, along with some heightened media attention in a hockey-crazed market like Edmonton, are just two of the finer details that come with being a deadline acquisition in Oil Country.

“It’s been good. It’s been nice to get here and settle in a little bit and get familiar at home, in the locker room, and kind of the routine here,” Henrique said.

Henrique had only been traded once in his career from New Jersey to Anaheim back in 2018 before being acquired by Edmonton and identified the adjustment to new tactics as one of the hardest transitions to make when moving from team to team.

"Sometimes there are wholesale changes in philosophy you have to adjust to, but most times, it's just different language from the coaches preaching a lot of the same details," he said.

His new Oilers teammates have been able to help clear the air of any confusion in the dressing room, on the bench, or on the ice if it arises.

But for the most part, Henrique has felt comfortable with the quick change.

"That’s always the biggest adjustment," Henrique said. "I think the language that different coaches use as well. Some of it's similar and some of it's different. The guys did a good job kind of walking us through the systems, and even the guys I’ve been playing with have been doing a great job just talking me through what to do and what not to do, what they see or if I have questions.

"So far, I've been pretty comfortable with everything. Things are not a crazy amount different on the ice, so it’s just a matter of settling in and finding some chemistry with guys and hopefully building off that."

Henrique was acquired from Anaheim alongside Sam Carrick last Wednesday and the 34-year-old started alongside Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane on the top line for his Oilers debut the next night against Columbus, but moved to the third unit with Kane and former Ducks' teammate Corey Perry in the last two matchups against Buffalo and Pittsburgh this past weekend.

With ice time between 10 and 15 minutes during his first three games with Edmonton, Henrique has also spent time on the penalty kill, which in addition to his five-on-five looks to be a major area of contribution for the Brantford, Ont. product here in Oil Country for the rest of the regular season and playoffs.

"You want to come in and try to win right away, but I think for me, [I've played] pretty good," he said. "I felt good in the games, and I think getting thrown in right away is kind of the best way to go about it. You just get in and go play.

"For us as hockey players, you have that same schedule on a day-to-day basis being on the road with the guys, and I think that helped too just in getting to know the group a little bit and being able to go for lunch or dinner depending on where we were. The guys have been very welcoming and helped us through the first few days."

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said that joining a new team during a road trip is ideal, as it allows both the new player and the dressing room extra time to focus on creating new dynamics and new relationships.

"I think catching up on the road is the perfect time," he said. "The players that were already here have their lives. They’ve got their families and away from the rink, they run home and they see their families of course, but when we’re on the road, it’s a perfect time for them to join the team just because they go for dinner together, they spend more time at the rink hanging out, so I think the way they got to know everyone was good.

"Now for them, just getting comfortable playing here in this rink. I think the energy is great and they feel really excited about it, so it’ll be nice to see what they give us tomorrow.”

With he and his new Oilers teammates getting a well-deserved team day off on Monday following their four-game road trip, Henrique – along with other deadline acquisitions in Sam Carrick and Troy Stecher – took the opportunity to get acclimatized and accustomed to their new city and surroundings at Rogers Place.

“We came in yesterday to check out the locker room and everything to kind of get used to the day-to-day here, but it’s been good so far," he said.

Having a day off to settle in before following it up with a practice day on Tuesday has been the best-case scenario for the three newest Oilers.

"It’s made the transition pretty smooth and pretty easy for us."