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Joey Laleggia has opened eyes as a winger after being a defenceman his whole career

Joey Laleggia has better chance to make the NHL as a winger than a defenceman after his 20 goals in Bakersfield last season

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Joey Legs has hands too.

Joey Laleggia has moved dramatically up the Edmonton Oilers organizational depth chart after he scored 20 goals last season in Bakersfield, shifting to left wing from defence where he’d played since a kid with buddy Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Any thought that he could make the NHL sometime soon has, uh, legs.

“Pretty impressive what he’s done over the last 40 (AHL) games,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “In this first two days here, he’s been quick, makes good plays, he’s smart and he works into position with his skills. We hope he continues to impress us over exhibition season.”

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Laleggia dazzled on defence at University of Denver with Oilers taking him in the fifth round in 2012. They signed him in 2015 but he got lost in the shuffle as a pro. They have youngsters Caleb Jones, Ziyat Paigin, Ethan Bear, Ryan Mantha, William Lagesson starting their pro careers, and also the older Dillon Simpson and Keegan Lowe.

Moving to the wing was farm coach Gerry Fleming’s wildcat idea.

“We had a conversation after Christmas and he said that it might help us score goals and try to provide a spark offensively. I rolled with it and it worked,” said Laleggia.

Laleggia admits the ask from Fleming got his mind working, though.

“You’re thinking you must be the odd-man out on defence, but the bottom line is I didn’t want my career to end like that. I didn’t want to be flushed out of the system by not being able to make it on defence,” he said. “I took it as another opportunity to make it count.

“I was lucky being in the top six right away, playing with Juhjar Khaira for a long while until he was called up, then with Anton Lander, a treat.”

Lander is in the KHL for AK Bars Kazan now and has eight points in nine games.

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Nugent-Hopkins had Laleggia on his left wing during scrimmage Saturday because Jussi Jokinen didn’t skate. Jesse Puljujarvi was on the right side.

“This is a cool opportunity for him … 20 goals is a lot considering he didn’t move to the wing until halfway through the season,” said Nugent-Hopkins who played on a powerhouse Vancouver midget AAA team with Laleggia that won a provincial championship. Laleggia was team captain.

“I’ve known him since we were really young and he was a dominant, dominant defencemen. The transition is easier than it would be for other guys though because he’s always been skilled and fast,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “But it also says a lot because this isn’t like going from centre to the wing. He’s going from defence.”

The emergence of players like Conor Sheary in Pittsburgh has opened the door for lots of 175-pound wingers.

“The game is changing. You don’t have to be huge or a powerhouse up there. What you need is smarts,” said Nugent-Hopkins.

“I always wanted to play forward but my coaches wouldn’t let me (minor hockey and college),” said Laleggia. “This is how I’d prefer it.”

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McLellan isn’t sure what to make of the new NHL rule which will give a team a minor penalty if they challenge a goal for offside and lose it.

“I think we’ll be more considerate of the situation and time in a game. If we’re down 2-1 and the other team scores with five minutes left, we might gamble and call it,” he said. “If we’re tied and they make it 2-1, we might not. We don’t want to gamble and have the other team go right to the power play. We’ll have to be more selective.”

Coaches used the challenge to slow the momentum of another team, too, using it like an unofficial time-out. If they were wrong, they simply lost their only challenge opportunity; now they’ll get a penalty.

Conversely, McLellan didn’t like standing around if the challenge was on the other side.

“You’re not playing for two or three minutes. It drains everything and you have to get the excitement going again,” he said.

ON THE BENCH: Jokinen sat because of soreness after Friday’s on-ice work but should return Sunday … Anton Slepyshev (ankle) missed his second day on the ice, too and won’t skate Sunday … Right winger Kailer (pronounced Kye-lure as in Tyler) Yamamoto was with Leon Draisaitl and Milan Lucic for part of scrimmage because McLellan wants to see the first-rounder with veteran forwards … McLellan said Darnell Nurse’s “testing (fitness) scores were off the chart.” … Nobody’s wearing Matt Hendricks’s old No. 23 at camp.

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