EDMONTON - There are just some challenges that are inherent with the job, which Oklahoma City Barons head coach Todd Nelson is acutely aware of.

But even he had to admit that this season has been trying.

“I have to tell you, when I watch the Oilers games, I’m always cringing when I see somebody limping off the ice,” said Nelson, head coach of Edmonton’s American Hockey League affiliate.

Little wonder, given what the Barons have been through this season.

To recap, the Barons opened the season with a ridiculous amount of riches. Star forwards Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and first-year defenceman Justin Schultz, were all sent down to Oklahoma City during the NHL lockout. They also had the likes of Teemu Hartikainen, Magnus Paajarvi and Anton Lander secured in their fold.

When the lockout ended last month, the Barons’ top four scorers headed to Edmonton, along with Hartikainen and Paajarvi. Lander was recalled when Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff was hurt. Then this week, Mark Arcobello, the Barons current leading scorer, was reeled in to pinch hit for Nugent-Hopkins.

Arcobello has since been send down, but with Lander now limping it is expected that Edmonton will recall Chris VandeVelde to play centre on the fourth line.

“For me, to sit here and tell you, ‘yeah, it’s been an easy transition,’ I’d be lying. It’s been tougher than normal,” Nelson said. “But that’s life.

“Obviously, the season was a bit unique with the lockout and having those guys here. The tough part about that was that it was tough to manage everybody just because we had extra bodies and every day the NHL guys woke up, there was news with the CBA talks. That uncertainty was always with them.

“Once the lockout ended, life was back to normal, but then when you take those guys out of our lineup, that was pretty much 70 per cent of our scoring.”

What the Barons have done during the transition is shore up their back end. They signed veteran Brett Clark, who played 681 NHL games, including the last two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Randy Jones (Winnipeg Jets in 2011-12 and Tampa Bay (2010-11) and they will have Oilers Theo Peckham for a couple of weeks after he was sent down on a conditioning assignment. They also added winger Jonathan Cheechoo after the lockout ended.

However, there are also three goaltenders to manage until the club decides where Niko Hovinen fits in. He was claimed off waivers last month and is now sharing ice time with Yann Danis and Olivier Roy. He played his first game on Feb. 1 and turned away 28 saves in a 3-2 win.

Oilers goaltending coach Fred Chabot was scheduled to fly to Oklahoma City this week to help out with the netminders.

The Barons, 21-18-2-4 and currently in 10th place in the Western Conference, host the Grand Rapids Griffins Friday and Saturday.

“We have a pretty good veteran corps on the back end now, which we didn’t have at the start,” said Nelson. “We felt that was an area we had to improve.

“All in all, it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster since the lockout ended, (but) right now, we still feel confident we’re going to put a good team on the ice on Friday. We just have to play a team game, play a good system, and outwork our opponents. If we do that, we’ll be fine.

“We want to get ourselves into the playoffs and now is the time to make the push.”

jireland@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/jirelandEJ