Oilers potential line-up

- there will be changes. #Oilers

Image courtesy Edmonton Journal

- As it stands today before free agency, the lineup is looking to be as follows:

Pouliot - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle

Hall - McDavid - Yakupov

Draisaitl - Lander - Pitlick / Purcell

Hendricks - Gordon - Klinkhammer / Gazdic

Nikitin - Fayne

Ference - Schultz

Klefbom - Gryba

Nurse / Davidson

Talbot

Scrivens

I say one should always keep Nuge and Ebs together.  Hall looks like he wants to play with McDavid. Yakupov I'm not sure although he was clicking with Roy--one can imagine he'll have more clicking with a super wizard.  If he doesn't improve this year, I could see a trade happening by putting someone with more size and experience in that spot from a team tight on cap space.

The third line is perfect for those guys and Chiarelli has already discussed putting Draisaitl on the wing.  Really though, he and Lander could switch back and forth between the dot and the boards.

I get the feeling though, that the defense is going to look differently real soon here with Nikitin being an odd man out.  The Oilers may look to get some value from Ference by the trade deadline before he decides to retire or goes UFA in two seasons--making the D look like this by March:

Mike Green - Fayne

Reinhart / Nurse - Schultz

Klefbom / Davidson - Gryba

That looks a bit meaner.  It's slowly coming together although I'd prefer Reinhart and Nurse to spend another year in the AHL until they utterly dominate, which will make Fayne expendable.