Cole Reinhardt delivered again last night, and the Edmonton Oilers have every reason to keep refreshing the waiver wire this week.
The Florida winger scored, added an assist and picked up the game-winner in a 5-3 win in Tampa Bay. He did all of it in 13:50 of ice time.
With training camps closing, every depth forward on a crowded roster sits one paper move away from somebody else's lineup.
Reinhardt brings speed, size and penalty kill ability. That lines up almost perfectly with what Edmonton needs in the bottom six.
The cap sheet explains the urgency. Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard combine for $37,000,000 in cap hits, so cheap bodies who can handle PK minutes carry real value.
The Oilers kept rolling Thursday night too, edging Vancouver 2-1 on the road for a third straight exhibition win.
Quinn Hutson scored the winner on five shots. Tristan Jarry stopped 25 of 26 in his 60 minutes of work.
Stan Bowman's cheap depth hunt starts at the back of the line
The problem? Edmonton isn't anywhere near the front of the claim order.
Until November 1, waiver priority runs in reverse order of last season's standings. The Oilers finished 14th overall, which puts a lot of clubs ahead of them.
It's like showing up to a Boxing Day sale at 9 a.m. The good stuff tends to be gone before the doors reach you.
That hurts most with Jakob Pelletier. The Tampa Bay winger won the AHL scoring title last season with 77 points in 63 games.
He faced the Panthers last night, picking up an assist and two penalty minutes in 9:48. If Pelletier does slip onto waivers, odds are someone ahead of Edmonton pounces first.
Oskar Sundqvist makes more sense on paper. He's a right-handed centre, and Edmonton doesn't have one.
The Blues forward put three shots on goal in 11:58 during a 1-0 win over Chicago. He also brings 17 points in 52 games from last season.
A claim like that would take pressure off Joshua Samanski. The centre logged 17:45 against Vancouver without a point, and it's still unclear if he's ready for that fourth-line role full-time.
Then there's Reid Schaefer, the 6-foot-5 winger Edmonton drafted in the first round before sending him to Nashville in the Mattias Ekholm trade.
Bringing him home would make a nice story, but it's the wrong claim. Edmonton needs special teams help now, and Schaefer is still a forechecking project.
Reinhardt is the one to chase. He posted six goals in 15 games for Florida after being claimed off Vegas waivers last March, so he knows exactly how this game works.
Mike Babcock gets one more look at his group Saturday against Calgary before the regular season opens Tuesday against Vancouver.
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And Stan Bowman can only hope the 13 teams in front of him blink first.
Should Stan Bowman put in a claim for Cole Reinhardt over Oskar Sundqvist if both hit waivers?
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