Frederic settles in alongside McDavid, Draisaitl as Oilers beat Canucks

EDMONTON — Playing on a line with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl may sound like a dream job for Trent Frederic. But heâ€ll tell you, playing alongside Patrice Bergeron in Boston was also a plum assignment.

“I played with Bergy once,†Frederic said on Sunday. “I ran into him and broke his nose.â€

In their first pre-season outing last week, the Edmonton Oilers’ top line was, er, less than stellar. They went minus-3 across the board, no points, and a forgettable pre-season debut, in a 4-1 loss to Seattle.

“You play with the best two players in the world and go minus-3? I was a little nervous tonight,†Frederic laughed after Sundayâ€s win.

The McDavid line dominated a Vancouver Canucks lineup that featured starter Thatcher Demko, four NHL defencemen, and a smattering of regulars at forward, scoring every goal in a 4-3 Oilers victory. Frederic wreaked havoc in the Canucks crease on the first goal, then scored the second one on a rebound of a McDavid shot.

Draisaitl had two goals and four points, McDavid had a goal and two helpers, while Frederic went 1-1-2 — a bounce-back game for what head coach Kris Knoblauch hopes will be the top line on Opening Night, Oct. 8

“Freddieâ€s just got to be able to get them the puck, make plays once in a while, and create chaos in front of the net,†Knoblauch said.

What is the key ingredient for the third wheel on that line?

“Patience,†said Draisaitl. “Sometimes you feel like youâ€re not in the game the way Connor and I play. He just needs to create space, get to the net and (feel like he is) part of it.â€

There is a fine line between retrieving pucks, standing in the crease, helping McDavid and Draisaitl and staying out of their way. Zach Hyman has the gig down, but with him out for a month, itâ€s Frederic who is cramming for the Game 1 test.

“He has a smart hockey mind,†Draisaitl said. “And heâ€s willing to go to the hard areas.â€

Knoblauch said that Vasily Podkolzin will return from his fatherâ€s funeral in Moscow on Tuesday, and will get in the last preseason game, Friday in Seattle. Max Jones will also be healthy enough to get in another game, as well.

With two pre-season games left on the Oilers’ schedule, letâ€s focus down on some key players at camp:

You can see the try in Ike Howardâ€s game. No one is saying he isnâ€t working hard to succeed, or that he thinks success will come easily without putting in the proper effort — but his learning curve may simply be too steep for one pre-season.

Howard skated on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Andrew Mangiapane on Sunday, and that line was simply OK against Vancouver. As for Howard, his goal has to be to hold on to pucks at this level, as so far weâ€ve seen a player who struggles to further the play or find elongated touches in open ice.

At one point, he battled and kept a play alive by stripping a Canucks defenceman. The try is there. But the game that got Howard here has not been so evident throughout the pre-season, and itâ€s only going to get harder from here.

The ultimate barometer for a 21-year-old, first-year pro is this: Is his development better served playing top minutes in the AHL, or fighting for ice time at a higher level in the NHL?

Unless the Oilers are willing to stretch this apprenticeship into the regular season, we donâ€t see how some time in Bakersfield would not be the best thing for Howard, based on what weâ€ve seen so far in camp.

Big picture: We are on the record predicting a bounce-back season for the Oilers†26-year-old goalie. Small picture: After a shaky opening start to the pre-season, Skinner was much better in his second start Sunday night.

Skinner was beaten up high off the Frederic turnover, on a centring pass that ricocheted off Ekholmâ€s skate in the low slot, and on a cross-ice one-timer with the Canucks goalie pulled. But he was on the puck, solid with his rebounds, and looked like heâ€s on the path to allowing this scribeâ€s prediction to have a chance of being right.

Samanski isnâ€t going to make the team, OK?

But on a franchise that has dealt away so many draft picks in pursuit of a Stanley Cup, give GM Stan Bowman some credit for filling the funnel with three European free agents who have all shown promise this fall.

Samanski, 23, may well play in the NHL. Not now, but in the next couple of years.

The jury is still out on centre David Tomasek, who we believe will show better as the frenetic state of pre-season hockey polishes up as rosters fill up with NHL veterans.

And defenceman Atro Leppanen had another good showing Sunday, and Knoblauch says heâ€ll get one more preseason start. Heâ€ll also require some AHL time as well, but like the others, you canâ€t say itâ€s impossible to see a scenario in which Leppanen crafts a game that is NHL worthy one day.

Samanski — who was given a shift alongside countryman Draisaitl late in Sundayâ€s game, perhaps a reward for a stellar camp — was robbed of his second pre-season goal by Thatcher Demko in the third period in another responsible outing. If he can make Germanyâ€s Olympic team and gain some experience in Bako, who knows: There may be a six-foot-two, middle-six winger here.

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