Trent Frederic eager to show Oilers what he’s got … just not yet
It’s a logjam on left wing in Edmonton, but when will burly Trent Frederic suit up for the Oilers? Mark Spector takes a look.
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EDMONTON — It’s a logjam on left wing in Edmonton these days, but everyone knows there will be a spot for Trent Frederic as soon as his wonky ankle allows him to join the Edmonton Oilers lineup.
How soon until he can start skating?
“I’ve asked that question and got a lot of different answers. Whenever they let me, I’ll be skating,” he said Thursday, as Frederic met the Edmonton media for the first time. “I’m just taking it day by day, and each day I think it’s (coming) sooner and sooner. So that’s a good thing.”
The Oilers were vague on Frederic’s availability: “He’s going to be a little while,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.
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Whatever that means.
Frederic arrives in a deadline-week trade from the Boston Bruins alongside left winger Max Jones, who will play on the Edmonton Oilers fourth line Thursday night, as a light and not-very-physical Oilers team tries to beef up for a playoff run.
Both wingers are 27 years old, six-foot-three and better than 215 pounds. The Oilers are the oldest team in the National Hockey League and dead last in hits.
It seems like the perfect match.
“I know they’ve got a lot of guys that can score and make plays, so I don’t have to worry about that part as much. I know I’ll chip in there,” Frederic said. “But, yeah, that’s what I’m gonna try to bring — that physical element.”
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Knoblauch will insert Jones on to his fourth line Thursday, and expects an immediate physical uptick.
“(Jones) is a player that gives us something we don’t have,” Knoblauch said. “A little more speed, a little more physicality, a really simple game. He’s a guy that gets in on the forecheck and makes it a little uncomfortable for the opposition. Our hit total should be up a little bit more.”
Left winger Jeff Skinner will be healthy-scratched for the second straight game by a team that just added two more left wingers, and has a third in Evander Kane working his way back from injury. That’s six LWs, by our count, with Skinner ranking right near the bottom.
General manager Stan Bowman is shopping Kane to the player’s list of 16 teams that he submitted last week, though Kane is currently not able to play and has one more year left on his contract at $5.125 million.
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Meanwhile, Skinner has a full no-movement clause on his $3-million deal that expires after this season. You can bet that Bowman has approached the Skinner camp about trading the player — despite his NMC — as Skinner has simply not worked out in Edmonton after signing as a free agent on July 1.
“It’s difficult for any player to deal with,” Knoblauch said of being scratched. “He’s had an outstanding career, and coming in here to feel like he’s going to be a big part of it and have a significant role. It hasn’t fit with the team right now.”
It hasn’t fit with the team all season. And with Frederic in town, and Kane on the mend, it’s hard to see a spot for Skinner come playoff time.
Skinner can still score: he has 11 goals, all even strength, while playing mostly bottom-six minutes with next to zero power-play time. You’d think a team in that crazy wild-card race out east might have a look at him, as he would come at no cost — and perhaps with a sweetener — from Edmonton.
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Meanwhile, after giving up picks and prospects to acquire Jones and the pending UFA Frederic, the latter left the door open to signing with the Oilers this summer.
“That’s the first thing I thought about, to keep an open mind,” said the St. Louis native Frederic, who will get much attention from the Blues before July 1. “I’m pretty impressed just for the last couple hours and all the guys reaching out. I know that (Edmonton) has invested a decent amount in (acquiring) myself and Jonesey to come in here. So I’m just trying to just to make that work out.”
You’d think his brother would have wanted Frederic to play at home in St. Louis. But as the trade rumours swirled these past few weeks, he was hoping to see Frederic end up right where he did — on Connor McDavid’s team.
“I think he thinks this would be the best chance of the big dream,” Frederic chuckled. “He watches a lot of hockey. Obviously, this is a team a lot of people like to watch.”
