At Random: Getting Started
6 years ago
With rookies and veterans alike having filed back into town in preparation for training camp and players talking hockey Thursday before the Edmonton Oilers rookies jetted off to Penticton for the Young Stars Classic, getting started was a popular topic – in more ways than one — when the notepads and microphones came out.
While this was the shortest off-season in 11 years for the Oilers after going seven games in the second round against the Anaheim Ducks last spring, talk about getting started took on a different meaning yesterday aside from getting back on the blades. The Oilers got off to their best start in decades, 7-2-1, to open 2016-17 on the way to their 103-point season, and getting out of the gate quickly again came up more than once.
“I think there’s a different energy and mindset coming into this season versus last season,” veteran winger Milan Lucic said. “Guys are excited, guys are ready to get things going and there’s more of a chip on our shoulders to get back to where we left off . . . hopefully, we have a good camp so we get a good start like we did last year.”
The 7-2-1 last year was the team’s best since 1985-86, when the Oilers got out of the gate 8-2-0. For context, Lucic, 29, wasn’t even born then. Edmonton’s record in their first 10 games in the previous five seasons was 3-7-0, 4-5-1, 3-6-1, 4-3-3 and 6-2-2, under Tom Renney in 2011-12. Getting off to a fast start in the first 10 games guarantees nothing of course – Renney’s team finished up 32-40-10 after hitting the ditch and winning just six times in their second 20-game segment.
That said, this is clearly a better team than Renney had and if Connor McDavid and this group are feeling it early after last spring’s second-round exit, it’ll do nothing but build confidence. Success breeds success, to use a cliché, and getting right back on track after getting a taste last season will do nothing but reinforce the way Todd McLellan wants this team to play. That’s where the bar should be set.
WHILE I’M AT IT
- I’ve already written that Jesse Puljujarvi, 19, is the youngster I’ll have my eyes on when main camp opens. Now, the window of opportunity has swung open wider for the big Finn with news Anton Slepyshev could miss camp and might not even be ready for the start of the season because of a sprained ankle. Ready or not, Puljujarvi will get a good, long look on RW in the top six alongside McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Going in, it looks to me like it’ll be Ryan Strome, Puljujarvi and Zack Kassian in the first three RW spots.
- Kailer Yamamoto will get a lot of attention in B.C. I’m hoping he’ll be a feel-good story down the road, but he’s only 18 and will be one of the younger prospects in Penticton, so let’s not get carried away. “It’ll be interesting to see how he does against older competition,” said fellow prospect Caleb Jones, who is 20 and has played against the diminutive Spokane Chiefs’ speedster with the Portland Winterhawks. “He’s definitely capable of playing in the NHL . . . he’s a smaller guy but I wouldn’t count him out.”
- Another guy I want to see is big Ryan Mantha, the towering six-foot-five, 225 pound blueliner the Oilers signed as a free agent. Mantha, selected 104th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2014 Entry Draft, signed with the Oilers back in March after declining a contract offer from the Rangers. The former Niagara Ice Dogs captain also had a look with the Buffalo Sabres. Mantha isn’t overly physical for his size and he could use another step. We’ll have to wait and see if he’s another David Musil or if there’s something more there.
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