Oilers’ Kris Knoblauch flexing depth muscle with possible addition of Warren Foegele – Sportsnet.ca

SUNRISE, Fla. — Sunny, with a chance of Foegele.

If Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has taught us one thing during this Stanley Cup run, it is that it doesn’t matter how much depth you have if you never actually use it.

And so he spiced up his bottom six in the Oilers final full practice before Game 1 of this Stanley Cup Final, inserting left winger Warren Foegele on the fourth line. Foegele was a healthy scratch for the final three games of Round 3.

“Whether he comes in for Game 1 or whatever, we will see him sometime in the lineup,” said Knoblauch, who has become less forthcoming with his lineup changes as each round has passed, on Friday. “He provides us a little bit offence, scoring 20 goals this season and 41 points. Also, he’s just another guy who adds some more speed to our team.”

Foegele’s first-ever 20-goal season has not translated to the post-season, where he has just a goal and three points in 15 starts. He is one of the Oilers fastest forwards, however, and combined with good size (6-foot-2, 204 pounds) he can bring some bang to Edmonton’s forecheck.

Here are the Oilers lines at practice Friday:

RNH-McDavid-Hyman

Kane-Draisaitl-Holloway

Janmark-Henrique-Brown

Foegele-McLeod-Perry

Ekholm-Bouchard

Nurse-Ceci

Kulak-Broberg

The Foegele move would leave the Oilers with a lineup missing both Derek Ryan and Sam Carrick, a pair of interchangeable fourth-line centres, but more importantly two right-handed faceoff men.

“We took (Foegele) out of the lineup, which wasn’t easy for us to do after the year he had, but it’s nice to have the opportunity to put him back in,” Knoblauch said.

On defence, it appears the Oilers will reunite the Darnell Nurse-Cody Ceci pairing, and with an overload of left shots, they’ll ask young Philip Broberg to play the right side on a pairing with Brett Kulak.