PROJECTED LINEUP: Oilers at Devils

NEWARK, NJ – Winger Jeff Skinner is projected to play on the second line with Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in the first of back-to-back games for the Edmonton Oilers this week.

"Obviously he garners a lot of attention from the other team, so you have to be aware of who you're out there against," Skinner said of playing with Draisaitl. "I think that's probably the main thing."

"Other than that, I think just play your game, try to build on good things in your game and work together and try to create stuff."

Mattias Janmark was the only Oilers skater not on the ice for Wednesday's practice because of an illness, and Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said that he's hopeful the Swede can suit up on Thursday night in New Jersey.

The bench boss said they still need to make a determination on Janmark's status in the morning, but that he liked what he saw out of Skinner's game in Monday's 3-2 defeat to the Buffalo Sabres enough to warrant a promotion into the top six for the 32-year-old winger, who has 11 goals and 10 assists in 54 games this season.

"He's a guy we feel that if he's gonna play, that he's complementary with skilled players and he's a guy who can score goals," Knoblauch said. "The other night, we did some switching later on in the game, but Janmark Brown and himself in the first period I thought might've been our best line that period.

"But with Janmark uncertainty, tomorrow night there's a good chance that that's where Skinner will be playing, but we gotta find out exactly who's eligible to play."

If Janmark is unable to go, it's expected that Kasperi Kapanen would centre the fourth line in his place, while Skinner would move to the second line.

Knoblauch added that Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg are doubtful to play in the remaining three games of the road trip because of undisclosed injuries, with Ekholm still in Edmonton after it was looking possible for the Swedish blueliner to join the team in New York partway through the trip.

"While Klingberg's here with us, Ekholm's still in Edmonton. He was going to fly and join us," he said. "Right now, it's looking like he will stay in Edmonton and join us for regular practice when we come home."

Goaltender Stuart Skinner is slated to start the first-of-back games for the Oilers against the Devils on Thursday before Calvin Pickard draws the start against the New York Islanders on Friday.

View the Oilers Projected Lineup vs. Buffalo below:

Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Hyman
Skinner - Draisaitl - Arvidsson
Podkolzin - Henrique - Brown
Jones - Kapanen - Perry

Walman - Bouchard
Nurse - Stecher
Kulak - Emberson

Skinner
Pickard