With Ilya Bryzgalov out with an upper-body injury, LaBarbera has been recalled to likely serve as Devan Dubnyk's backup tonight.

With the signing of Ilya Bryzgalov it was obvious that Labarbera was not going to be with the Oilers for long. In six appearances this season, he has one win with a 3.69 GAA and .858 SV%.

It will be LaBarbera's first start since October 15th when he allowed three goals on 28 shots in a loss to the Penguins. He is 1-2-0 and has a 3.21 GAA and .871 SV%. LaBarbera is probably someone you want to avoid against a Coyotes team who has just one regulation loss in their last eight contests.

It will be LaBarbera's first start since October 15th when he allowed three goals on 28 shots in a loss to the Penguins. He is 1-2-0 and has a 3.21 GAA and .871 SV%. LaBarbera is probably someone you want to avoid against a Coyotes team who has just one regulation loss in their last eight contests.

LaBarbera allowed four goals on 20 shots in a loss to the Capitals last night. He will be back in the cage tonight with another tough matchup vs. Pittsburgh. Look elsewhere for your starter.

With Devan Dubnyk's struggles continuing, the Oilers will turn to LaBarbera to make his second start of the season. He started vs. the Devils last Thursday, turning aside 21 of 25 shots in a 5-4 shootout win. He might not be a great spot start tonight in Washington vs. Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps.

LaBarbera stopped all 12 shots that he faced after coming in to relieve Devan Dubnyk Saturday night. He was 4-6-2 with a 2.64 GAA and .923 SV% with the Coyotes last season.

Usually you can bank on any Dave Tippett coached team to make the playoffs as any team he has coached has only missed the playoffs once in his tenured NHL career. But last year marked just the second time in his 10-year coaching career, and first as Head Coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, that a Tippett-led team missed the playoffs, but we can put an asterisk on that dubious achievement as it occurred in a Lockout shortened season.  The Coyotes only made one change from last season by bringing in free-agent Mike Ribeiro and trading Steve Sullivan to the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline.  Will the somewhat status quo bring the team back to the playoffs? Goalies Mike Smith had a rough start as he let in 10 goals in his first 2 games but quickly righted the ship s he went 7-4-2 in his next 13 games with a 2.47 GAA And .915 SP. A mediocre March pushed the Coyotes back in the tight playoff race, one from which they did not recover.  Any team coached by Tippett means that the goaltending is sure to be solid so you should expect a return to his 2011-2012 form when he posted a 38-18-10 record with a 2.21 GAA and .938 SP.  Former San Jose Shark Thomas Greiss was brought in to replace the departed Jason LaBarbera.  Greiss brings good numbers with him and should spell Smith on a regular basis as the team will have complete confidence in their backup net minder. Defense When your leading scorer on the team is a defenseman, you know that there is a deficiency of scoring from your forwards. Granted Keith Yandle is very talented, but he is no Bobby Orr.  Yandle finished ahead of RW Radim Vrbata by only 2 points, but Vrbata missed 14 games due to injury. Expect Yandle to compete for the team scoring lead again.  We expected Oliver Ekman-Larsson (OEL) to breakout last season, but young d-men sometimes take a little longer to develop. He definitely has the talent, but may not get the opportunities as long as Yandle is around.  Derek Morris, Rostislav Klesla and Zbynek Michalek round out the defensive corps while Adrian Aucoin skipped town.  The depth on the blue line fit into Tippett's style and is a huge benefit for the goaltenders. Forwards As mentioned above, the forwards aren't the most prolific in scoring, which is essential for a competing fantasy hockey team. Vrbata should lead the team in scoring among forwards, especially now that Ribeiro has joined the club.  Don't expect Ribeiro to light up the score sheet like he did with the Capitals, these two teams play ...

After years of ending up in the bottom part of the standings in the NHL, the Oilers, over the past few years, have stockpiled a lot of young talent, especially on offense. Youngsters like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov and Sam Gagner have Oiler fans salivating at how good this team can be in the future.  But right now is a different story.   Edmonton missed the playoffs by ten points last season.  They were 18th in the league in goals scored with 123 and 19th in the league with 134 points allowed. But they were 7th in the league in power play percentage, and 9th in penalty kill, which shows that they have a lot of skilled offensive players. It also shows that they are bad at 5 on 5 plays.  This is because they lack depth on forward and defense.  General Manager Craig MacTavish made some subtle moves to try and improve this situation.  He brought in 29 years old Boyd Gordon as a free agent from Phoenix with a three-year deal to be the third line center.  Gordon is exactly one piece that the Oilers have been missing, a tenacious checker who is very good defensively and is great on face-offs.  In addition, he brought in defenseman Andrew Ference from Boston as a free agent with another three-year deal.  Ference is the quintessential stay at home defenseman who will bring experience, leadership and stability to the Oilers defense, and he has also played in three Stanley Cup Finals.  These were solid moves that should take some pressure off the young players as they continue to develop.  Edmonton should contend for a playoff spot this season.  They make not make it, but they should be exciting to watch. Goalies While there was a lot of talk during the offseason that the Oilers were trying to get Ryan Miller from Buffalo at this point it seems like they are going to go with Devan Dubnyk as their starting goalie. Dubnyk had a solid 2013 season with a 14-16-6 record in 38 games, with a 2.57 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and 2 shutouts.  At 27 years old, he is still learning, so he can still get better.  At almost 6'6" and 210 pounds he has the one thing you can't teach which is good size.  He has really improved his positioning over the past few years, and he has good rebound control.  He has a tendency to give up soft goals occasionally and then brood about it which can get him off his game.  He was in control a lot better this past season.  Maybe coaching is helping him in this respect.  The Oilers have two ...

LaBarbera will likely serve as the backup to Devan Dubnyk in Edmonton.