Edmonton Oilers demote 2 players to the AHL on Saturday.

The Edmonton Oilers have hit a major slump and now it sounds like there are going to be some players paying the price for their current run of failure. 

According to an official announcement from the Edmonton Oilers, the team has made the move to place both veteran defenseman Brandon Manning as well as veteran forward Markus Granlund on waivers for the purpose of demoting them down to the American Hockey League. Again the move comes off the heels of a terrible run of form from the Oilers in which they have gone from first place in their division to a team that now is in real danger of missing the playoffs yet again. 

The moves today are clearly designed by general manager Ken Holland to spark his team out of their slump, but at the end of the day they still remain relatively minor changes. Many expect that Holland will have to make a significant move in order to shake things up and get his roster back on track, but as of right now that does not sound like it will be the case. According to a report from Sportsnet's Mark Spector it sounds like instead the Oilers will be making some call ups to replace the players they have just demoted, although who will be coming up at this time remains a mystery. 

Manning has only been used sparingly by head coach Dave Tippett this season with the veteran blue liner only appearing in 9 games for the Oilers thus far. In those games Manning has recorded 1 goal and no assists while collecting 17 penalty minutes and is a plus minus of -1 on the season. Granlund on the other hand comes as a much more surprising move given his usage this season. In his 31 games played he has 3 goals and 1 assist for a combined 4 points and he currently sits on 14 penalty minutes while also boasting a plus minus rating of -1.

Neither of these moves will likely cause much of a change, and the call ups that are coming behind them likely wont have a major impact on the roster either, but with the way things have been going for the Oilers something had to give.