OILERS NOTES: Samorukov might get his first NHL look in St. Louis

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Dmitri Samorukov has been biding his time while two other left-shot Edmonton Oilers defencemen, Markus Niemelainen and Philip Broberg, got call-ups from the farm in Bakersfield, Calif., but his wait to skate his first solo NHL lap may be over.

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Samorukov might get the nod over Broberg for the game in St. Louis because of Broberg’s contract/bonus structure in terms of the tight salary cap. He broke his jaw in a rookie game in September when he took a shoulder to the face, after rehabbing hard from shoulder surgery in the 2020-21 Kontinental Hockey League season.

If he plays, it’ll be his first NHL game since he was drafted in the third round, four and half years ago.

“This has been a lot of fun,” Samorukov said of practising with the Oilers after getting recalled from California. “Back to Russia weather.”

Getting hurt, he says, is “part of the job.”

But, it put him behind Niemelainen and Broberg on the left side, organizationally. He says he wasn’t frustrated with not being called up. And has no hard feelings.

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“I went through a lot of injuries and stuff. It was more about working on my game to show them what I could do,” said Samorukov, whose name may have come up this past summer when the Oilers were trying to trade for Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper and the Coyotes were looking for a top prospect in the deal.

With the surprising play of Niemelainen and Broberg, maybe teams are circling at the trade deadline too for Samorukov if the Oilers make a move for a veteran forward to play in the top six.

“Samorukov played a lot of minutes once the other defencemen got up here and hopefully he’ll jump in and take off,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “Last year, he was going good in the KHL and the early reports were he was doing a nice job (with SKA St. Petersburg) but he got hurt. Looked like he was ready to have a great camp and got hurt again. He needs to play.”

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READY TO ROLL

Duncan Keith passed his last COVID-19 test after being in protocol and was paired with Cody Ceci at Tuesday’s practice before the team flew to St. Louis. So, that will be one regular defensive pair against the Blues. It appeared Tyson Barrie will play with Slater Koekkoek with Evan Bouchard either with Samorukov or Broberg.

IMPRESSING THE TEACHER

Tippett has certainly noticed fourth-line winger Tyler Benson changing his offensive American Hockey League game to one that’s more irritating, in order to make it as an NHLer. Maybe there’s a bit of a rat there. He’s like former Oil Kings forward Curtis Lazar, now a good face-off man and checker in Boston.

“I give Tyler a ton of credit because he wants to be an NHL player. There’s a bit of belligerence there, making sure he finishes his checks. Guys come up as great offensive players but it’s about finding a role in the NHL and sticking. He’ll do whatever it takes,” said Tippett.

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NOT SO SILENT MINORITY

The Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko, who would have played for Russia at the Olympics, joined several NHLers upset by the league deciding it wasn’t sending players because of COVID.

“They promised us we can go and they took it away but we’re still playing (NHL games) here. You’re dreaming about the Olympics growing up, like in any country in the world. Canada or U.S. or Russia or Finland. Any country,” he told St. Louis media.

Tarasenko said he would have gone even if he had to go through isolation for several weeks in China if he tested positive for COVID over there.

“I think you would be surprised how many people would go,” he said.

This ‘n’ that: The Oilers TV broadcast crew flew with the team to St. Louis, so Jack Michaels and Louie DeBrusk will call the game live rather than off a monitor, as they’ve done quite a bit on road games. But Cam Moon and Bob Stauffer, the CHED radio guys, are staying behind to work the game here at CHED studios.

E-mail: jmatheson@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @jimmathesonnhl