Oilers trim down roster on Sunday, place 4 on waivers.

The Edmonton Oilers have reduced the number of players on their roster ahead of the regular season, with one name perhaps standing out above the rest.

On Sunday, the Oilers officially announced that they had reduced their roster by 5 players including putting 4 players on waivers. The biggest surprise among the 5 names was undoubtedly that of forward Noah Philp who most appear to believe had done enough to earn himself a spot on the Oilers opening night roster.

Instead Philp will be sent down to the American Hockey League after being loaned to the Bakersfield Condors, but the decision to do so may not be related to his performance on the ice. You see Philp is currently exempt from the waiver process and sending him down means that the Oilers can avoid putting a 5th player on waivers today on top of the 4 they already having going through the waiver process.

Keeping that in mind, I think we can expect to see Noah Philp back on the main roster sooner rather than later.

As mentioned, the Oilers also placed 4 players on waivers today and all 4 will be eligible to be claimed by a rival team should they wish to do so. Here are the 4 players who will have to go through waivers:

Olivier Rodrigue
Josh Brown
Raphael Lavoie
Drake Caggiula

Players are rarely claimed just before the start of the regular season with most teams more interested in trimming down their rosters rather than adding to them at this stage of the preseason, but it isn't impossible that one of these 4 players could end up claimed on Monday.

Stay tuned for more details on this developing story.