Edmonton Oilers call up ferocious veteran tough guy in wake of Darnell Nurse mugging
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This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news they have recalled ferocious tough guy Josh Brown in the wake of Ryan Reaves’ mugging of Darnell Nurse.
Brown got in a fight in his most recent games, pounding the hell out of San Diego’s big Nathan Gaucher. On average, Brown gets in about five fights per year.
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1. There’s still no news on how long Darnell Nurse might be out, so it’s no surprise to see the Edmonton Oilers make this move given they play games on Monday and Tuesday. Even with Nurse in the line-up, Edmonton was one of the least physical teams in the NHL. If he’s out, there’s a lack of toughness, so no surprise to see fierce right shot d-man Josh Brown get the call, especially as there’s not many left shot d-men who are NHL-ready in Bakersfield, just small Cam Dineen.
2. Brown struggled mightily in-preseason in Edmonton. He was slow and iffy with the puck, not much better in terms of his positional play. As I noted in late September, Brown was outplayed in the pre-season by Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher, try-out candidate Travis Dermott and Ben Gleason (who has since been traded away). Brown struggled to move the puck crisply and made some iffy reads as well.
Brown is a fierce customer, yes but needs to move the puck better if he’s going to hang in with this version of the Oilers, where puck movement is at a premium.
Perhaps he’s worked some issues in his game in the AHl these past six weeks. He’s got two assists in 12 games and is +5.
3. The Oilers have the fewest hits per game of any NHL team, just 13.9 per game. Their next games are against league-leader Ottawa, 28.5 per game, on Tuesday and 10th overall Montreal, 23.3 per game, on Monday.
I suspect we’ll see Brown in the line-up sooner rather than later. Given he’s a right shot d-man, I suspect we’ll see the same top pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, with the second-pairing of Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson, and a third pairing of Brown and fellow righty Troy Stecher, who has outplayed lefty Travis Dermott.
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