The Oilers announced that they have placed forward Drake Caggiula on injured reserve. The 23-year-old last played on October 7th so assuming they back-dated the placement, he will be eligible to be activated at any time but this frees up a spot on the 23-man roster.
With center Leon Draisaitl now in concussion protocol, some speculated that the Oilers would turn around and sign center Chris Kelly, who has been skating with the team despite being released from his PTO at the end of training camp. However, the team instead opted to recall veteran Brad Malone from Bakersfield of the AHL to take Caggiula’s roster spot. The 28-year-old has three points in three minor league games this season and has 176 career NHL games under his belt between Colorado and Carolina.
Elsewhere out West:
- Depending on how Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis recovers from his knee surgery and if Samuel Girard can continue to hold down a roster spot, Adam Vingan of The Tennessean suggests that blueliner Alexei Emelin could potentially be a trade candidate later in the season. The 31-year-old is in his first season with Nashville but despite the injury to Ellis, he has seen his average ice time drop by four minutes per game in the early going. If they do decide to move him at some point, his contract shouldn’t be as onerous to move as Vegas is retaining a little more than $1.1MM of his $4.1MM cap hit.
- Wild winger Marcus Foligno is scheduled to undergo a procedure on the left side of his face, notes Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. In doing so, the team is hopeful he will be able to return to the lineup fairly quickly, albeit with a full cage on his mask. Minnesota is off until Friday so Foligno may not wind up missing too much time in the end.