Failed physical and absentees in Edmonton on opening day

The focus on the Edmonton Oilers ahead of training camp on Wednesday had been on their ability to become cap compliant ahead of the season opener later in October. With Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith going on LTIR, Edmonton will max out their payroll and there is chatter of moves to come in order to get under cap.

And so, fans expected on Wednesday that Smith was going to fail his physical.

Ken Holland has confirmed that Smith will be placed on the team’s long-term injured reserve seeing that he failed the physical this morning. However, the GM also announced that Cody Ceci will miss the first few days of training camp and that defenseman Slater Koekkoek will not attend camp and will be away from the team indefinitely.

The good news however is that Holland believes Ryan McLeod is expected to be on the ice tomorrow with a new contract.

Things are taking shape in Edmonton.