The Edmonton Oilers will wrap up their 2024 pre-season in B.C. on Friday night when the club faces the Vancouver Canucks, offering one final chance for players to impress coaches ahead of the NHL regular season.
Coming off a 2023-24 season in which the Oilers came just one victory short of hoisting the Stanley Cup, Edmonton is all in again this season and has added numerous reinforcements at the forward positions, most significantly by signing free agents Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson.
But the club’s defence is sure to look very different in 2024-25 as the offseason saw the club lose Cody Ceci, Philip Broberg and Vincent Desharnais via trade or free agency.
One of the players still vying to earn a spot on the Oilers’ blue line is 27-year-old Travis Dermott, a veteran defenceman who has played 329 NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes.
A second-round draft pick of the Leafs in 2015, Dermott scored his first pre-season goal with the Oilers in Wednesday’s 6-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
Edmonton Oilers forward Jeff Skinner (53) pats the head of defenceman Travis Dermott to celebrate Dermott’s goal against Seattle Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer (31) during the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in Seattle.
AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson
The Newmarket native signed a professional tryout contract with the Oilers in the offseason and told Global News this week that he feels his play has really benefited from working with Edmonton’s coaches.
“They’re just building that confidence in me to go out and really show the player I can be and help me reach my potential — which I feel I haven’t really been going towards the last few years,” Dermott said.
The left-shot defenceman played on the right side of the blue line Wednesday, opposite Darnell Nurse who made his pre-season debut for the Oilers after recovering from an injury.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch described Dermott as “a guy that moves the puck really well.”
Travis Dermott agreed to a professional tryout contract with the Edmonton Oilers in the offseason.
Global News
“He’s not that big, but he is strong on his feet,” Knoblauch noted. “So we’ve got a lot of good defenceman that we’ve been evaluating, and we’ll obviously have one more tough decision to make.”
The Oilers’ regular season begins Oct. 9 when they host the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Place.
–with files from Slav Kornik, Global News
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