The Edmonton Oilers play their first pre-season game of 2022 on Sunday afternoon, taking on the Winnipeg Jets at 4:00 p.m. MT at Rogers Place.
You can watch the game on EdmontonOilers.com or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. WPG
COMING SOON: PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
COMING SOON: PRE-GAME RAW | Oilers Player
RECENT VIDEOS
PRACTICE | Camping Season
RAW | Jay Woodcroft
RAW | Stuart Skinner
RAW | Dylan Holloway
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
CAMP: Nurse relishes shutdown role
CAMP: Skinner confident in bigger role
CAMP: Dreaming out McLeod
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Sunday's game on EdmontonOilers.com at 4:00 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from Oilers Training Camp at Rogers Place on Saturday.
>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - Oilers hockey is finally back.
After a short summer, Edmonton enters the season with high expectations off the back of a trip to the Western Conference Final. Sunday evening's game against the Jets will be the first opportunity to showcase the work several of the Oilers veterans put in over the summer and a chance to fine tune their game prior to the start of the season.
For others, now is the time to impress and potentially mark their spot on the Oilers roster. One of those player is 2020 first-round pick Dylan Holloway. The freshly minted 21-year-old impressed in the Young Stars Classic in Penticton -- registering two goals and an assist in two games -- before his strong showing so far in the first few days of Oilers Training Camp.
"I saw some plays in Penticton where I saw willingness to bring pucks all the way across the blue paint, a willingness to stop in hard areas," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "That was against his peer group. Now we're in main NHL camp and he's showed well for the first three days. Like a lot of people that are fighting for a position with our club, the real test begins tomorrow afternoon."
Holloway's strong camp bled into Saturday's intrasquad game, where the forward used his speed to draw a couple penalites, also scoring a slick backhand goal on an ensuing penalty shot.

"He's obviously a big, strong, power forward type. I think he's a powerful skater, that's what led to drawing those penalties today," Woodcroft said. "I think he's feeling more and more confident in and amongst the big boys. I think his line has been good, but the real test will be as we get into this pre-season schedule."
General Manager and President of Hockey Operations Ken Holland spoke at length in the offseason about the need for younger players to grab a 'bigger piece of the pie' this upcoming campaign. The Oilers brass have liked what they've seen from Holloway so far, but it will be opportunities over the next two weeks -- including tomorrow's game -- that show if he truly belongs on the Oilers fat the start of the regular season.

STUART STARTS

Another young player that is grabbing a piece of the pie is goaltender Stuart Skinner. The 23-year-old enters camp with a strong hold on the Oilers back-up goaltending position, and he'll have the chance to solidify that on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets. How long he will have to do that is still up in the air according to the Oilers coach.
"Skinner will start for us tomorrow," Woodcroft said. "We'll talk it over with our goaltending department (about how long), but he'll start the game for us."
Skinner found his way into 13 NHL games last season, sporting a 2.62 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage with the big club, including registering his first career shutout in his final start with the Oilers -- a 20-save shutout of the San Jose Sharks. The 2017 third-round pick has battled his way through the Oilers system and is ready to finally cement his status as a legitimate NHL goaltender.
"I was fortunate to coach Stuart in his first year as a professional. That wasn't an easy year for him, he spent some time in the East Coast Hockey League," Woodcroft said. "When he did come to Bakersfield he wasn't asked to play in a prominent role, yet I still felt comfortable playing him in the second round of a seven game playoff series in the AHL."

The size and skill that Skinner brings between the pipes is a tantalizing combination for an NHL goaltender. Over the last several years, Skinner has worked with the Oilers coaches as he's filled out his frame, worked on his craft, and slowly made due on the promise he showed as a 16-year-old starting goaltender with the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes.
"As he worked his way through the next couple of years, he established himself as a legit starting goaltender in the American Hockey League," Woodcroft said. "I saw him grow as a hockey goaltender and as a person over that time. It's a credit to all the hard work that he's put in, that he's positioning himself to where he is right now."
Skinner is expected to see action in roughly three or four of the eight exhibition games, as he works in with the Oilers other netminders including the other half of the "Soup and Stew" tandem in Jack Campbell.

BODY OF WORK

One point of empasis Head Coach Jay Woodcroft made heading into Sunday's game is that the contest is just a small piece of a much larger equation. The Oilers coach does not have the expectation of perfection, nor should he just five days in to camp with a roster that is in the process of building chemistry.
"People are trying to lay a body of work down over their two and a half weeks in camp. That's something we challenge our guys with, to make sure every day counted, but to also have the understanding if you have a tough day or tough play it's not the end of you," Woodcroft said. "You have to be able to recover from that. It's about the body of work that you put forth over this intense training camp."

The preseason serves multiple purposes for the Oilers: it's a chance to build chemistry, evaluate talent, and most importantly -- engrain the coaching staff's teaching into the players.
"I would like to see us apply some of the things that we've been talking about over these first three days. I want our players to play with a structure in mind but not be paralyzed by worrying about trying to make the perfect play," Woodcroft said. "I'd rather they play hard, and play fast. We understand that mistakes are going to be made and we're not going to be perfect on exhibition game number one."
While there is an understanding that perfection is far from realistic in the first exhibition game, it doesn't mean there aren't high expectations that players play the style of game that got them to this point. The Oilers have lofty goals entering the season and tomorrow's game against the Jets is a chance to start building towards them.
"I want people to show why they're in this position and play towards their strengths," Woodcroft said. "Most of all, I'd like us to grow. I think we've grown each day here. We've gotten a little bit better each day and tomorrow I'd like us to take another step."
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com