FGD: YOUNG GUNZ BOA – Flames v. Oilers*

The Flames and Oilers are playing tonight in what has to be the most exciting time to be an Oiler fan in recent memory. However, I am quite certain that this prospect tournament wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t able to exploit the frothing Oiler fanbase’s desperation for reasons to forget about the previous 82 actual NHL contests. 

This year’s crop of pimply prodigies from Shelbyville are faster, shinier, and have more endorsement deals, but you and I both know how this ends. An unending supply of excuses and draft previews delivered to the 780 and excitement for next year’s rookie tournament. The circle of life for Oiler fans.

Come have a look at tonight’s Young Stars tournament lineup against the Oilers

There are some changes from last night’s roster against the Jets, some due to injuries and some due to cycling through camp invites. Out for the Flames is Morgan Klimchuk and Oliver Kylington who seemed to have been banged up in last night’s game.

As a result, the Flames rotate some new bodies in:

I thought Mangiapane was quite good last night, demonstrating his ability to make passes in tight spaces and create offense for his teammates. Tonight, he’ll be playing with slightly less skill but we’ll see if he’s able to create for Carroll or Arnold, both of which were pretty absent from last night’s action. 

Agostino moves off the top line with Bennett and Poirier and is replaced by Bryce van Brabant who had himself a pretty good game last night including a nice goal in the first period. BvB showed a quick release and some pretty nice hands for a bigger guy last game and has been rewarded with a cherry spot on the Flames top line.

Some of the new faces up front include Louick Marcotte who was signed to an AHL deal this summer and put up impressive numbers at the Junior level. Also, Mason Marchment, in Penticton on a try-out, could see action tonight on the fourth line. 

On the back end, the pairings look like this:

Eternal try-out Jason Fram draws into the lineup tonight replacing Pat Sieloff and Kenney Morrison draws in for Kylington. While it’s a drag that Kylington is out with a minor injury, it’ll be interesting to see Morrison for the first time for many Flames fans. Sadly, Rasmus Andersson is paired with Keegan Kanzig who looked…slow (see: bad) yesterday. 

In net tonight will be Mason McDonald after Jon Gillies looked very strong in net last night. After a lot of hand-wringing when he was drafted, I think many Flames fans have become rather excited about the 6’4 19 year old who has a pretty good shot at representing Canada at the World Juniors this winter.

As spoiled in the previous header, Connor McDavid (perhaps you’ve heard of him) will not be in the lineup tonight against the Flames. I am not kidding, the Oilers social media crew gif’d an assist of McDavid’s last night. Here it is:

Uh. Yeah. Take a breath. 

Here is the lineup for the Oilers tonight:

The puck drops at 8:30MT and can be streamed here