PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers vs. Kraken

EDMONTON, AB – The return of captain Connor McDavid to the lineup on Monday will give the Edmonton Oilers the chance to shuffle their forward lines when they host the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place.

"I'm antsy to play and excited to get going," McDavid said. "It was a long week just sitting around practicing, so I'm ready to get going."

The Oilers went 2-1-0 without their captain, defeating the Buffalo Sabres by a 3-2 score on Saturday to take over the top spot in the Pacific Division before the Vegas Golden Knights stole it back on Sunday with a win over the Florida Panthers.

"I think the guys did a good job," Adam Henrique said. "You can't just replace him by putting somebody in the lineup, and it has to be a collective effort. So certainly, we want to clean up from the last game that we learned from, but we found a way to win, so we move forward now."

"Having him back in the lineup is a huge plus for us and obviously, he's a huge part of our team."

Edmonton will load up its top line with McDavid between Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, while Henrique will step into a top-six role to fill the spot of the second-line centre with Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson – a spot that was previously held down by Draisaitl for nearly a month straight.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse is feeling under the weather and didn't participate in practice, but Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said he expects him to suit up tonight against the Kraken to keep Edmonton's blue line unchanged from their 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

If Nurse is ultimately unable to play, forward Jeff Skinner is the team's only extra skater available with John Klingberg away from the team to deal with immigration. Klingberg is poised to make his Oilers debut later this week either on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings or Saturday against his former team the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"We have two more practice days before we play on Thursday," Knoblauch said. "We'll see how those two go, but the 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 he plays."

Alec Regula skated for the first time with the team since being claimed by the Oilers off waivers from the Boston Bruins on Dec. 11 and was a placeholder for Nurse at Monday's skate. The 24-year-old could potentially join the Bakersfield Condors in the coming days or weeks to undergo an AHL conditioning stint after undergoing knee surgery during the offseason and being placed on the injured non-roster list to begin the campaign.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch hopes to see his players continue to play with an elevated approach despite McDavid's return to the lineup after their full-team approach contributed to two straight wins over the Canucks and Bruins.

"Anytime you get your best player back after a stretch, whether it's one, 10, or 15 games without him, you insert that player back in the lineup, and it's a nice addition, to say the least," the coach said. "But when you add that player, often what happens is players take a step back. 'Oh, we got our player. We don't have to play as good,' and collectively, everyone else takes a step back because you're getting your best player back.

"It's important that everyone plays that high level and doesn't just take for granted that we are getting Connor back."

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, fresh off his second multi-point game with two goals against Buffalo, will centre Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown on the third line as the Oilers try a different look following the return of their captain from his three-game suspension.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner wasn't at the morning skate with him and his wife Chloe expecting their second child, giving the start tonight to Calvin Pickard, who has eight wins and a 2.55 goals-against average and .903 save percentage in his last nine starts for the Oilers.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse is feeling under the weather and didn't participate in practice, but Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said he expects him to suit up tonight against the Kraken to keep Edmonton's blue line unchanged from their 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

If Nurse is ultimately unable to play, forward Jeff Skinner is the team's only extra skater available with John Klingberg away from the team to deal with immigration. Klingberg is poised to make his Oilers debut later this week, either on Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings or Saturday against his former team the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Alec Regula skated for the first time with the team since being claimed by the Oilers off waivers from the Boston Bruins on Dec. 11 and was a placeholder for Nurse at Monday's skate.

The 24-year-old could potentially join the Bakersfield Condors in the coming days or weeks to undergo an AHL conditioning stint after undergoing knee surgery during the offseason and being placed on the injured non-roster list to start the regular season.

Centre Derek Ryan has reported to Bakersfield and is expected to begin playing games for the Condors this week.

View Edmonton's Projected Lineup vs. Seattle below:

Draisaitl - McDavid - Hyman
Podkolzin - Henrique - Arvidsson
Janmark - Nugent-Hopkins - Brown
Perry - Philp - Kapanen

Ekholm - Bouchard
Nurse - Stecher
Kulak - Emberson

Pickard
Skinner