Ideally, but they just don't have that good of winger depth to do it really. Hopefully Holloway is ready to start or finish the season in the top 9, as you said -- that would help a lot.

I really don't like McDavid with Kassian and Hyman -- he needs a skill guy in there with him.

No

No, the best bet is to have him as the 2LW, and run him with Draisaitl, and Yamamoto. Our bottom 6 is good enough, and I don’t really want Kassian, and Foegele in the top 6. With Nuge in the top 6, he will be worth his contact, and it will give us more scoring in the long run. Also, in case if people don’t know, Nuge sucks at being a center man. I would just put Ryan there, and then start the season. I don’t care what people say, Holland is a great GM, and this team is going to be good if everyone clicks.

I think that would be ideal for Edmonton. I think it depends on how good the young guys are. I am really high on Holloway. I think he plays that similar style to Hyman but has more skill. Obviously a big ask for him to come in and produce right away, but I think he is an NHL player this winter. My ideal lineup with the young guys would be something like this:

Hyman-McDavid-Puljujärvi
Foegele-Draisaitl-Yamamoto
McLeod/Benson-RNH-Holloway
Archibald-Ryan-Kassian

The two first lines you should be comfortable running out against anyone, while the third line can be sheltered with the young guys. 4th line is your energy line.

That is why I have him mcloed. RNH has always struggled at draws the rest of his center ability is ok against top comp this allows him more sheltered role as center. mcloed can be eased in and take draws as he was pretty good inhis short stint last year. I get the Kassian part.
as for Foegele every report I heard said he would look out of place on second line as long as it has good skilled players. he would fill the same role as hyman on the first line check and get the puck to DRi and JP

I am not a big fan of kassian their either. Hyman I think will work really well.
The key is holloway or Benson being able to contribute if they can it would allow for JP or yamo or one them to right the right side with mcdavid.

That wouldn’t make Nuge a centre man, that would make McLeod the center man. And it’s not just draws… he sucks at everything a center man has to do. That’s why he’s better on the wing. Foegele could play in the top 6, but I rather him on the third since we would have Nuge in the top 6. I never in a million years would make Nuge be a 3c… also, his point production would drop. We need him to be good, so we can make a playoff spot.

I'd run him at 2LW until Holloway makes the lineup. Then run:
Hyman-Mcdavid-JP
Foegele-Drai-Yam
Mcleod-Nuge-Holloway

Swap Holloway and Foegele if Holloway plays well

Just cuz he doesnt take all the draws doesnt make him not a center man right.. Dri takes the majority of draws with Mcdavid and then mcdavid does most of the center position in zone the rest of the shift right?
also i assume you think Dri is a centerman as well. if you look back to when RNH was a center their Corsi and fenwicks are pretty damn close....
as for his point production he would still get his PP time which is where about 50% of his point production comes from. as for the rest I think you would see an increase since he would be playing agains 3rd d pairs and lesser comp than the mcdavid or dri lines would be getting.

This is where the Bear trade leaves me confused. They bring in Hyman, but why bring in Foegele too? Foegele is not a top 6 F, he's a bottom 6 F, meanwhile I think Bear will be a very consistent top 4 guy at his peak. If they're going to trade Bear, why didn't they look into getting a 2/3C, so they can finally fix that position? Who was the last EDM 3C that worked? David Desharnais at the 2017 deadline? Hawks probably would've moved Strome for Bear, somehow Carolina got him instead, makes no sense really.

They could run him at C, but are unlikely to. During the playoffs when Tippett loaded up the top line, he used McLeod at 2C and Nuge at 2LW. So I think it's extremely unlikely they go with these lines. I think Ryan, McLeod and Turris cover the 3C and 4C positions until Holloway has had at least half a season of AHL experience.

I think that is the case as well I can pretty much guarentee tippet will start with
Hyman/mcdavid/ JP
RNH/DRi/Yamo
Foegele/Ryan/Kassian
Shore/benson/McCleod/Archi

or something pretty close. Just doing it to see what it would look like and if ther was depth as i said above Holloway would be a key factor here.

Not an Oilers fan but I think they should really keep RNH with Draisaitl and Yamamoto.