Music: {allcanada} Edmonton Oilers release eight players

EDMONTON —Edmonton Oilers head coach Tom Renney isn't a fan of keeping three goalies in the rotation, but that's what he has this morning.

Neither Jeff Deslauriers (notes) nor Devan Dubnyk (notes) was put on waivers on Monday, with the team unable to decide—at least for now—which goaltender will back up starter Nikolai Khabibulin (notes) when the NHL season starts on Thursday night against the Calgary Flames at Rexall Place.

"I don't know what to expect," said Renney. "We have to talk about this inside (the management team)."

Renney said he has an opinion on which young goalie the Oilers should keep, "but I've had so little dialogue on the goaltenders. As a group, we decided today we didn't have to make a decision, so let's not. Let's get the other (cuts) out of the way."

The Oilers cut eight players on Monday. Forwards Linus Omark (notes) and Chris Vande Velde (notes) were assigned to the Oklahoma City Barons in the American Hockey League, while forwards Liam Reddox (notes), Ryan O'Marra (notes), Alexandre Giroux (notes) and Ben Ondrus (notes), plus defencemen Shawn Belle (notes) and Richard Petiot (notes), were placed on waivers.

There is no guarantee the Oilers will start the season with three goaltenders. They could still try to send Deslauriers or Dubnyk to the Barons before Wednesday's 1 p.m. MDT NHL deadline for filing 23-man rosters, when a waiver claim isn't probable.

Deslauriers ($1.05 million US, one year) and Dubnyk ($800,000 per season, two years) both have one-way contracts, which could scare other teams away.

The Oilers could send one of the young goalies down to the minors in order to put their man in limbo, Sheldon Souray (notes), on their 23-man list for the time being rather than assign the defenceman to the AHL.

Reddox lost out to a bigger Ryan Jones (notes) for the fourth-line winger spot with Steve MacIntyre (notes), who was also picked to be the team's beat cop to watch out for Taylor Hall (notes), Jordan Eberle (notes) and the other kids. Reddox was very good in training camp, skating miles, as always, and showing his versatility because he can play all three forward positions.

"I don't have any regrets. Best shape I've been in and was doing lots of good things, but they were looking for more size in the bottom six," said Reddox, who also got into his first fight as a pro hockey player last Friday against Calgary's Stefan Meyer (notes).

"I thought that might have put me over the top," he said with a smile.

Reddox could get picked up on waivers.

"I want to play for the Oilers, but if there's not a spot for me, then maybe there's 29 other teams that want to see what I can do at this level," said Reddox, who is making plans for the long drive to Oklahoma City.

"Twenty-one hours. If I get picked up on waivers, then I'll make a sharp U-turn," he said.

Petiot, one of the nice human-interest stories of camp, laid a hellacious hit on Tampa Bay Lightning rookie Niklas Persson (notes) in one pre-season game and generally played efficiently with and without the puck, but came up short.

"I got more opportunity here than with other teams. It was fun, being from Daysland (43 km east of Camrose), to play before friends and family," said Petiot, who proved he's not just a depth organizational player in three games, but an NHL blue-liner who lost out in the numbers game.

"They told me that I had to work on my foot speed. I've heard that quite a bit in my career," he said.

It was the same with Belle, who is still trying to become an NHL regular after being a first-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues seven years ago.

"In Montreal (Belle's last organization) they had a lot of guys ahead of me in the depth chart," said Belle. "I wasn't the only guy on their radar. They had to look at (Taylor) Chorney, they had to look at Peckham, they had to look at Petiot. I had positive feedback.

"It's not over. I'll go down to the minors and work my butt off," Belle said.

Both Belle and Petiot lost out to Theo Peckham (notes) for the sixth spot on the back-end. Veteran Jason Strudwick (notes) will be the No. 7 swing guy.

"Theo fits the role we require. He's got an element of toughness and strength to his game, he's belligerent. He'll protect other people," said Renney, who felt he needed the nastiness on the back-end to go with Ryan Whitney (notes), Tom Gilbert (notes) and Kurtis Foster (notes), who don't have that in their makeup.

In the end, the Oilers wanted Peckham's sandpaper and desire and will probably play him with the equally abrasive Jim Vandermeer (notes) on the third pairing.

Giroux, 28, who scored 110 minor-league goals with the Hershey Bears the last two years, knows that he missed the boat.

"I'm a goal-scorer," said Giroux, who had one goal in four pre-season games. "Scorers have to score."

"Tough guys have to be tough, goalies have to stop pucks and I'm a scorer. I came up a little short on that," said Giroux. "I'm absolutely getting tired of this. This is my ninth pro camp and the ninth time sent down. This is not a very good day."

Giroux will get paid $500,000 US whether he plays in Oklahoma City or Edmonton.

O'Marra showed more in this camp than any previous one to open the coach's eyes to the possibility that he can be a good role-playing centre down the road. Vande Velde is the same sort of player.

"I have heard things about my conditioning, which I find comical," said O'Marra. "I have worked on my skating, big-time. There's more of a comfort level for me … the coaches said I've defined myself more as a player.

"I was caught in between my other years at camp)," said O'Marra, who will be a fourth-line role guy.

"I can justify every single guy by the nature of how they played … everybody needs to improve in an area to be a National Hockey Leaguer in Edmonton," said Renney, "but, yeah, you would like a bit more time, maybe to give them a chance to play NHL games to get your head around things."

Winger J.F. Jacques (back) will start the season on the injured reserve.

HORCOFF IN LINE TO BE NEXT CAPTAIN?

Don't be surprised if the Oilers name a new captain today or Wednesday, and it would be shocking if veteran centre Shawn Horcoff (notes) doesn't get the big letter as the franchise's 13th captain.

"You down to top three (candidates)?" Oilers head coach Tom Renney was asked.

"You can assume anything you want. I have a strong feeling which way I want to go," he said.

In Anaheim, Ducks players voted in Ryan Getzlaf (notes) as their captain for the new season.

Renney will make the final call in Edmonton. "I scrutinize the ballots," Renney joked.

AND …

- -Renney said defenceman Ladislav Smid (notes) was fine after being walloped by Rene Bourque (notes) in Calgary on Sunday. He hurt his nose and neck.

- -Big MacIntyre made the team as the 13th forward, but wants him to do more than be a vigilant night watchman. "He has to do more than slap somebody on the side of the head. I'm going to pay close attention to his progress as a hockey player," said Renney.

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IT'S SHOWTIME—FOR NOW

Here's the breakdown for now—three goalies, eight defencemen, 14 forwards.

- -GOAL—Nikolai Khabibulin, Jeff Deslauriers, Devan Dubnyk

- -DEFENCE—Tom Gilbert, Ryan Whitney, Ladislav Smid, Kurtis Foster, Jim Vandermeer, Theo Peckham, Jason Strudwick, Sheldon Souray

- -FORWARDS — Shawn Horcoff, Magnus Paajarvi (notes), Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Ales Hemsky (notes), Sam Gagner (notes), Dustin Penner (notes), Andrew Cogliano (notes), Gilbert Brule (notes), Zack Stortini (notes), Colin Fraser (notes), Ryan Jones, Steve MacIntyre, J.F. Jacques