Oilers Training Camp: Mike Hoffman PTO, Evander Kane’s Surgery, scouting reports, and more
The 2024-25 season officially started today as the Edmonton Oilers players went through various medical stations ranging from the VO2 max text, eye tests, hearing, flexibility to neuropsych and anything in between. Some veterans had done some of their testing last week, and spent some time doing on-ice photo shoots this morning.
The Oilers first group will hit the ice tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. for a 90-minute session with the second group skating at noon, and usually, they will swap time slots on Friday. Here’s the training camp roster.
1. Evander Kane will have surgery in the next couple of days. “I’m having a lot done,” said Kane. “Both abductors on each hip, two torn lower abdominal muscles and two hernias.” Kane wouldn’t give a timeline on when he will return, but is hopeful he isn’t out all season. He explained why he is having surgery now, rather than earlier this summer.“We all agreed to see how things looked after we took some time off (after the season) and if things could improve via rehab. We tried that and unfortunately it wasn’t the case. The next step was to find the best possible surgeon. There was some confusion on how we would fix this. Some doctors had different opinions. We have sorted it out and will now have surgery,” explained Kane. He added that it was really helpful speaking with three different doctors. They all agreed what surgery needed to be done, they just had different ways they would go about it. He also spoke to a few NHL players about their experiences and mentioned Sean Monahan was a big help.
The plan is for Kane to start the season on IR, so the Oilers have some cap flexibility, but if needed, they could move him to LTIR, said Bowman.
2. Darnell Nurse will be limited early in training camp. He won’t participate in contact drills, and while there is no set date for when he will, Stan Bowman said they expect him late in preseason. Ideally he will play in one of their final games in Seattle and Vancouver.
3. The Oilers signed Mike Hoffman to a PTO. Hoffman has played 745 regular season games scoring 228 goals and 487 points. He had 10-13-23 in 66 games with San Jose last season. I don’t see a spot for Hoffman on the roster. He isn’t better than any of the Oilers’ top-six forwards, he doesn’t check like Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown and he doesn’t have the physical game or speed of Vasili Podkolzin and Rapheal Lavoie.
4. Carl Berglund scored the only goal for Edmonton at the rookie tournament, but he suffered a concussion and is unable to start training camp. His injury opened the door to bring in Hoffman. Hoffman gives the Oilers another NHL veteran who can play in the preseason. Teams have to dress a minimum of eight NHL veterans in every preseason game so Hoffman can help fill that spot early in preseason.
5. You can expect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman to start as a line. They were outstanding last season, and it makes sense to start them together, while Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson will start alongside Leon Draisaitl. However, Kris Knoblauch, when asked about lines, did say that things can change quickly. He wasn’t afraid to switch lines last season, and try different combinations, and I’m sure he will again this season, but it sounds like he will start with those trios.
