Despite good-to-great play, Ben Scrivens finds himself on his third team in 12 months after being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. As he mentioned in an interview 630 CHED’s Reid Wilkins, those experiences highlighted to the pending free agent that this is ultimately a business ... but a pretty fun one, in that.
It doesn’t hurt to play for the team you cheered for as a kid, as Scrivens regaled in stories of the scrappy 90’s Oilers teams that pushed the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings as underdogs in playoff series.
“Growing up around Edmonton, that was my team growing up, so it’s going to be fun to throw on that jersey and play for that logo,” Scrivens said.
The natural question is: how long will Scrivens get to wear that logo, though? Oilers GM Craig MacTavish seems open-minded, yet also noted to the Canadian Press that this begins as a trial.
“We really felt for everybody it was a time for change with Devan [Dubnyk],” MacTavish said. “It gives us an opportunity to bring in another goalie in Ben Scrivens who’s had, statistically, a very good season so far, and gives us an opportunity to have a pretty good look at him going forward here from now to the end of the year to see where he possibly could fit in to our longer-term goaltending plan.”
It doesn’t hurt that Scrivens, 27, has plenty of experience playing for the Toronto Marlies with current Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins.
Scrivens’ former teammate Joffrey Lupul points out that the underrated netminder has a positive disposition under many circumstances, which might be worthwhile consider all that movement and a severe weather change from sunny Los Angeles to ... not sunny Edmonton.
“Scrivy, he’s a good guy and it doesn’t matter if it’s minus-30, he’ll still be smiling,” Lupul said.
Unfortunately Mrs. Scrivens might not be quite as happy in the cold, but ultimately, it’s an opportunity for the goalie to continue to prove himself. Even if that means wearing another logo in the near future.