Is this the year?
By Jason Gregor
7 years ago
Oilers fans: will you finally see some light after the Decade of Darkness?
Will your beloved Oilers finally end their painful 10-year playoff drought and make the playoffs?
I sense cautious optimism bubbling under within Oilersnation. After ten years of heartbreak you don’t want to get to excited, but every time you watch young Connor McDavid you find yourself saying, “I think this is the year.”
Don’t worry. It’s normal. Wanye has been sending me texts every 97 minutes the past two days. Most just say, “Squeeeeeeeee!”, but the odd one contains a few words of incoherent ramblings and way too many emojis. From what I can decipher, he’s excited about the season and believes the Oilers days of being the laughing stock of the NHL are over.
I replied back with, “If you are so excited why don’t you try writing an article more than once every nine months?” He replied with more lame emojis, but promised he will be writing more as he is starting to feel like a crazed superfan again, mainly because of young Connor.
If you aren’t excited by McDavid then you should retire as a fan. He is what makes sport great. He is electrifying. He is the faster player in the NHL and the plays he makes at top-speed even shock his teammates.
I spoke with Milan Lucic over the weekend and once I mentioned McDavid, his face lit up. Lucic knew he was good, but after skating with him for two weeks he believes he’s even better than he thought.
Keep in mind one of the main reasons Lucic signed in Edmonton was because of McDavid, and after only a few weeks he’s even more excited about #97’s potential.
McDavid will need a lot of help if he is going to lead the Oilers out of the NHL basement. We have seen many great, season-long individual efforts by players not result in playoff appearances — Joe Sakic, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin each had 100-point seasons on teams that finished in the bottom-four of the league.
McDavid will have success, but will his teammates follow?
On paper I believe this is the best Oilers roster we have seen in the past seven seasons, mainly because the defence has improved. They are quicker, more experienced, better passers and if they can stay healthy the Oilers will still be in the playoff hunt when the calendar turns to January.
I know that leaves three and a half months to determine if they will make the playoffs, but after a decade of suck, you need to take baby steps.
Last year the Oilers had a brutal schedule in October. Eight of their first ten games were against playoff teams, with six on the road, and not surprisingly they went 3-7. Their season was essentially over before Halloween.
This year the schedule maker has done them a favour, but it is up to the Oilers to capitalize. They play six of their first ten games at home. They don’t leave the country until November 2nd. Their first four road games are all in Canada. They only play two teams who made the playoffs last season — St. Louis and Washington — and both are in Edmonton. They don’t have any back-to-back games during this stretch.
A good start is a must.
WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN
1. They must stay healthy. I don’t care how good players are, if they aren’t healthy they can’t help you win. This group has to stay healthy, whether it be going to the Spirit World (Young Guns movie) with Chavez or hiring a Shaman just make it happen.
2. Cam Talbot needs to play as consistent as he did from December to April last season. He proved he can be a very good starting goalie during those months. After McDavid, Talbot is the most important Oilers player in my eyes.
3. Do not rely on too many young players. I’d rather see Tyler Pitlick or Anton Slepyshev on the third line to start the season. Jesse Puljujarvi will be a very good player down the road, but very few 18-year-olds are impact players. I hope he proves me wrong, but so far those two have played better. The month of October should be about winning, not letting players get comfortable. It might sound harsh, but this team can’t afford to have players find their game in October. That is what the AHL is for.
4. Adam Larsson, Milan Lucic, Patrick Maroon, Kris Russell and Andrej Sekera need to be steady, consistent veterans. Sekera played great at the World Cup. He likely won’t have to face the top lines this year, Klefbom and Larsson will, so he needs to have a great season. I would play Sekera and Russell as much as I could with McDavid’s line. Both have offensive instincts and with McLellan getting final change a lot in October I’d look to exploit as many line advantages as I could.
5. The Pouliot-RNH-Draisaitl line needs a good start and has to put up some points. RNH and Draisaitl both had success playing with Taylor Hall last year, but he’s not here and one of them needs to become the driver on the second line. It is very hard to be a driver every night, so even if one night it is RNH and the other is Draisaitl, that is fine. But they both need to become consistent point-producers without Hall.
6. The entire group needs to become more competitive all over the ice. Losing can’t be acceptable, and it starts by practicing harder and faster. Battling each other in practice will make the entire group better and it will create the foundation they need to win games.
I know it is a lot to ask, but any readers who are 27 years of age or younger have never had the joy of watching a playoff run in their adult life. They have missed out on many fun nights of playoff excitement in the city.
Trust me, even if you aren’t a big time party goer, when the NHL playoff excitement grips this city you will get caught up in it. We have all seen parents, friends or spouses who weren’t regular hockey fans get swept up in the playoff wave.
It is wonderful time for any fan base and for the first time in eleven years I believe Oilers fans will finally get to experience it again, or for the first time depending on your age.
PARTING SHOTS
- Losing Kris Versteeg to Calgary does not look great on the surface, however, they did offer him a contract though, and he choose the Flames instead. I assume it is because he might find himself playing with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. The reality is the Flames RW depth chart is much worse than the Oilers. Versteeg will have more chances to produce there and that means he could potentially earn himself more money on his next contract.
Yes, the Oilers could have signed him the moment they traded Nail Yakupov to ensure they had some RW depth, but he would have had to agree to it. Maybe his agent had been talking with the Flames the entire time. I’m told they had discussions for a few daysIt is also very plausible they are very high on Puljujarvi, but considering they sent Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse to the minors at the start of last season I sense Chiarelli believes the minors isn’t a bad place for young players. They could easily still send him down, so we will see how it plays out. Do not rule out Tyler Pitlick or Anton Slepyshev pushing Puljujarvi. Both shoot right and both had solid training camps.
- The one element I do like about the new regime is Chiarelli clearly believes in strengthening his defence over the wing position. We might not like every move that was made, but if you have very good wingers, and bad defence you won’t win. The Oilers defence is still not dominant by any means, but it is much better than last season. Only Sekera and Klefbom were in the opening night roster last season.
Mark Fayne, Justin Schultz, Eric Gryba and Griffin Reinhart will be replaced by Larsson, Russell, Nurse and Davidson tomorrow night. A much quicker and better puck moving group.
- As promised we have an NHL fantasy pool for you. You can enter our free one at draftkings.com/gregor1260. You need to enter before 5 p.m MDT tomorrow. It is free and the winner wins cash. And if you want to win part of the $100,000 Opening night pool you can register for only $3. You can enter a team here. Good luck in both.
Recently by Jason Gregor:
Recent articles from Jason Gregor
