NO CIGAR: THE DIRTY DOZEN

THE POSITIVES

• While Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth have yet to establish themselves as bona fide starters capable of keeping the crease for 60-plus games a season, they should push each other as a tandem and will provide an upgrade on Dubnyk, LaBarbera and Ilya Bryzgalov. The Oilers allowed 270 goals last season, dead-last in the NHL.

• There were plenty of bumps in the road, especially early, a year ago as Dallas Eakins took over from Ralph Krueger as head coach. Eakins’ swarm defensive scheme was a disaster. His power play alignment was a shorthanded goal waiting to happen. Eakins was at odds with sophomore Nail Yakupov. We saw a willingness to adapt from Eakins late last season and he has made an attempt to get on the same page as Yakupov this off-season. The growing pains should be out of the way. The addition of Craig Ramsay is a plus.

• GM Craig MacTavish addressed the lack of size up front by bringing in Benoit Pouliot and Teddy Purcell. While neither are big bangers, especially Purcell, they are seasoned veterans. Pouliot fits the bill in the puck possession game Eakins wants to play. Add rookie centre Leon Draisaitl and the forwards are bigger and a reasonably skilled group. Pouliot is starting the season with a tender hip-flexor

• While Taylor Hall scored 27-53-80 in 72 games last season, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, coming off shoulder surgery, had a so-so season with 19-37-56 in 80 games. I fully expect Nugent-Hopkins to have a bounce back campaign. If RNH is more productive, I expect the same from Jordan Eberle, who scored 28-37-65 in 80 games.

• The blue line. Paired or not, acquisitions Mark Fayne and Nikita Nikitin, who is nicked with a twisted ankle, add size and experience to a group that needed both. They’ll eat some tough minutes previously force-fed to Jeff Petry, Andrew Ference and Justin Schultz.

• Men in the middle. No breaking news here, but there’s a big question down the middle below RNH and above reliable face-off man Boyd Gordon in Draisaitl and Mark Arcobello. As impressive as he was during the pre-season, Draisaitl will face a step up in competition and we won’t know how he’ll handle it until he actually faces real NHL line-ups. Arcobello has 41 games on his NHL resume. If either one of them falters, the option, at least right now, is Will Acton. What could go wrong?

• The kids. Draisaitl aside, are Darnell Nurse and Oscar Klefbom ready for primetime? Keith Aulie did nothing during pre-season and has been sent to OKC of the AHL. Aulie was supposed to be the seventh man, the guy who split time between the ice and the press box. Instead, Nurse and Klefbom start the season here. Brad Hunt is also in the mix. It makes no sense to have Nurse or Klefbom sitting.

• If Draisaitl and Yakupov can find some chemistry and avoid being a defensive liability – they’ll get help from Pouliot on left wing – the Oilers could have two decent scoring lines. That’s a big “if.” Yakupov needs to rebound after a difficult second season and Draisaitl has to feel his way into the league at the same time. David Perron is coming off a career year with 28 goals. Encore?

• Special teams. The Oilers power play compounded mediocre production (it was ranked 21st with 46 goals) by allowing an NHL-worst 13 shorthanded goals against. It has to be better. Will Eakins tweak his approach? Will he better utilize Yakupov? Will Nikitin add a shot from the point the Oilers haven’t had in a while? The penalty kill was ranked 15th last season and it can’t slide. With better goaltending and the addition of Fayne, I don’t expect it will.

• Getting the pieces to fit. Oddly, Eakins didn’t use his last couple of pre-season games to roll out his starting line-up, so the Oilers are going to have to find out who fits with whom in terms of lines, defensive pairings and special teams at the start of the season. At the same time, if the Oilers are going to take advantage of that favourable early schedule, they’ll have to find the right mix quickly.

THE BOTTOM LINE