The Edmonton Oilers aren't wasting time shortening the Pre-Season bench. After waviers are cleared by certain players, the Oilers roster will be down to 32.
Today the roster was trimmed by eight players:
Sent to Springfield of the AHL - Defensemen Alex Plante, Jake Taylor and Bryan Young, and Winger Ryan O'Marra. Forwards Ryan Potulny and Chris Minard, along with Defenseman Dean Arsene will also join Springfield if they clear waivers.
Forward Milan Kytnar was returned to Saskatoon of the WHL.
This leaves the Oilers with the following players in camp (players with almost-guaranteed roster spots are in bold):
Goaltenders (3) -
Nikolai Khabibulin,
Jeff DesLauriers, Devan Dubnyk
Defenseman (9) - Taylor Chorney,
Tom Gilbert,
Denis Grebeshkov, Theo Peckham,
Laddy Smid,
Sheldon Souray,
Steve Staios, Jason Strudwick,
Lubo Visnovsky
Forwards (20) -
Mike Comrie,
Patrick O'Sullivan,
Ethan Moreau, Fernando Pisani, Robert Nilsson,
Andrew Cogliano,
Sam Gagner,
Ales Hemsky,
Shawn Horcoff, Gilbert Brule, Zack Stortini, Steve MacIntrye, Robbie Schremp, Liam Reddox, Jordan Eberle, JF Jacques,
Dustin Penner, Marc Pouliot, Ryan Stone, Toni Rajala
Considering the quality of the remaining nine defensemen in camp, it is possible that the Oilers could still ship one out for a forward. In respect to forward positions, eight players have firm locks on their jobs, and the remaining 12 will be in a dog-fight for the final five positions on the team.
Look for the Oil to attempt to ship a forward or two out before the season begins, as the play of individuals like Stone, Eberle and Jacques have complicated training camp.