Here we are in another offseason, but this time we’re heading back to work with some light at the end of the hockey-less tunnel. With training camp on the way, there are only a few weeks of waiting left to get through until the season rolls back around, and the mailbag is here to help you kill off a few minutes of that time with 3000 words of pure Nation wisdom. As always, this feature depends on you so please send me your questions by email or Twitter.

I think he could score 40 for sure, and reach 110 points or more. He is a special player and may push the outer limits in a big way. It’ll help if the referees call the penalties 97 forces from the opposition.

The crazy thing about McDavid is in junior he rarely had shoot on the fly or from far out. He was so much faster than everyone he could skate by them and get in close before shooting. He hadn’t refined that aspect of his game. I spoke to him before he left for the summer and he told me he would be working on shooting. The greats of the game are always looking to improve and he is no different. I think he scores 41 goals this season, possibly more.

I don’t think 40 is a stretch at all. Incredibly, McDavid scored only three power play goals in all of last season, which was a big part of the reason his shooting percentage fell from north of 15 percent as a rookie to 12 percent as a sophomore. There’s definitely room to grow there, and that’s before we get into the fact that he’s only 20 years old and still improving.

I think he’ll be a 40-something guy a few times in his career but I don’t know if it’s next season. Let’s say 38 for 2017-18.

I’m going with 35, which I believe will be more impressive because Draisaitl will be spending a lot more time on the second line. He’ll have a lower quality of teammate overall this season and that will force him to do more on his own.

I agree with you. The inner fanboy in me definitely thinks he can put up 110 points this season. My guess is at least 35 goals.

Cam Lewis: The Oilers were eighth in the league in goals and fifth in power play percentage last season. Nobody important on the team really missed significant time with injury, so it’s reasonable to expect that total to slide back a little this year. I’ll conservatively guess 30 goals and 60 assists for McDavid.

Before I answer, I want you to think about how many times you have yelled at your TV for Connor to shoot. Even with all of those moments where you wanted him to fire the puck but didn’t, he still scored 30 goals. So I don’t see why he can’t hit 40. I think Connor is kinda like Neo before he learned that he was “the one” at the end of the first Matrix.

Ideally, you’d run Russell with Benning, although I think Darnell Nurse may end up playing on the second pair for a time. Todd McLellan used Benning more often against tough opposition a year ago, so that’s probably a good starting point. Young defenders don’t develop in a straight line, so we shouldn’t be shocked if things turn out a little differently.

On opening night, if everyone is healthy, I’d say Russell/Benning will be a pair, but I’m not sold their 5×5 TOI and QofC will be noticeably more or tougher than Nurse/Gryba. I’m not sure we’ll see a clear separation between the second and third pairs to start. I think both will see some top lines. The Klef/Larsson pair will face the toughest minutes, no doubt, but I don’t think the second and third pairs will be much different at EV.

I think we’ll see a mix of things. I know Todd McLellan has stated his preference to keep Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson together, but my expectation is that at some point early on it’s just going to make sense to split them up. In this scenario, I’d see Larsson playing with Darnell Nurse, Klefbom with Matt Benning and Kris Russell on a defensive zone pairing with Eric Gryba.

Russell’s ability to play both sides offers Todd McLellan options. I think it’ll come down to which one of Benning and Nurse is capable of playing top four minutes with Russell as the babysitter.

My guess is the season starts with Russell and Benning as a pair. It’s a lot to ask of Benning to anchor that pairing. He’s still very young. There’s an outside chance that Nurse takes another step forward this year and before the end of October he displaces Russell on the left side. I anticipate big problems for the second pair without Sekera. I think the Oilers only have three legit/established top four defensemen and Sekera is one of them.

I have a feeling Nurse, Benning and Russell will all be playing off for the second pairing. Nurse will probably start with Gryba on the third pairing, but he could have the potential to move up based on performance.

Cam Lewis: I would imagine we’ll see Benning and Russell together to start the season, but I don’t think it’ll be long until Benning and Nurse, last year’s formidable, young third paid are back together. The two are familiar with each other and Russell could be useful on a pair with Eric Gryba in which the two are asked to make life difficult in the defensive zone. Regardless, it’s going to be a blender for a few months and the team will certainly miss the calming presence of Sekera.

I think it has to be Benning because a lefty-lefty pair of Russell and Nurse is pretty scary to me. No offense to those guys but I just don’t think that’s the best possible combo they can come up with. Russel-Benning. Final answer.

I was always impressed by Fernando Pisani’s approach to things. He played an intelligent game and was responsible without the puck, suggesting he viewed the game that way. I’ll say Fernando.

Jason Smith. He is in his second season as HC with Kelowna, has been an NHL assistant for two years, and is now paying his dues as a HC. I see him as a future NHL head coach.

I always thought Shawn Horcoff played the game like a guy with a future in coaching, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s where he ends up. I’m not sure if it’s cheating to use him as an answer; right now he’s in a player development role in Detroit which obviously has a coaching component, even though he’s not actually running a bench.

I’ll go with Matt Hendricks. Role players like him have to be students of the game to make up for what they lack in raw ability. NHL benches are filled with journeymen role players like him.

That’s a tough question for me to answer without having spoken to most of the players. He’s still playing, but maybe a guy like Matt Hendricks turns out to be a good coach. He’s a guy that didn’t make it to the NHL based on skill. He had to be able to do the things his coaches demanded in order to climb the ranks. I’m sure he’s picked stuff up along the way.

SMYTTY! Not sure if he’d make a good coach or not, but it would be amazing to see him behind the bench.

Cam Lewis: I have a feeling Mark Arcobello would make a good coach. He’s Ivy league educated, having gone to Yale, worked a gritty path to the NHL, and was always a smart player whose awareness compensated for a lack of size, speed, and skill. I mean, that’s a lot of guesswork on my part, but players with those kind of trajectories, the ones who didn’t really have everything come naturally to them on the ice or field, seem to make the best coaches. The Oilers have had a lot of guys that — Jason Smith, Ryan Smyth, Shawn Horcoff, etc — who would fit that description.

I honestly have no idea but I’m going to take a guess based on who sounded like they knew what they were talking about. I think Andrew Ference is a smart guy that would probably do well behind the bench and I say that mostly because he’s well-spoken and seems to know things. That said, what the hell do I know?

The Vancouver Canucks are in a tough spot. The club has a pile of veterans and another pile of kids, with no one in their prime. Vegas isn’t trying to contend, so it’s probably safe to predict the Golden Knights will finish last. Vancouver has some real issues, though.

The only one would be Vancouver if they run into a rash of injuries.

Vancouver and Arizona both have a chance based on their performances last season, but I don’t really expect either of them to underperform Vegas.

Arizona and the Canucks are the best bets. Might give the Coyotes an edge.

Vancouver can finish lower than Vegas. Even though the Golden Knights didn’t take the best defense possible, I’m not sure their D is worse than the Canucks. And I want to see Vancouver suffer as much as possible.

I think the only team who has the potential is Vancouver. I actually think it might happen. Vegas is such an underdog I’d like to see them win a couple more games than expected this season.

Cam Lewis: As bad as the Canucks are, I really doubt they finish worse than Vegas. That Canucks roster is a disaster, but it isn’t a scrapheap of players who have never played together before. Being an expansion team is damn hard.

Wouldn’t it be funny if Vancouver was worse than Vegas? I think it would be hilarious. I would have so much fun making fun of CanucksArmy if that ever happened. As fun as it is to think about, I don’t think it will happen, though. Vegas is going to be terrible.

It’s not personal, just business. The location of the new arena makes it easier for a relationship to form with McEwan, and clearly business dovetails with pleasure in this case. It’s a tough turn for the Golden Bears, a brilliant stroke of good fortune for the other two programs. For the Oilers, it makes sense or they wouldn’t be doing it.

Not overly surprised. They share a facility with Grant MacEwan. I’ve heard rumblings there have been some business disagreements between the Katz Group and U of A, and in business, things are always connected. The NAIT/GMU team will be very competitive and like the Bears players, they will be fired up to play the Oilers rookies. If I’m the Oilers, I’d play Jesse Puljujarvi in that game.

I’ve always really enjoyed the Oilers Rookies vs. Golden Bears game, and I’m hoping I haven’t seen the last of it. The new format has a lot to live up to.

Fine by me. It’s a glorified scrimmage for the Oiler kids. Means a lot more to the schools involved.

I don’t like it. The U of A isn’t just some local amateur team that is interchangeable with others in the area. They have a long history of excellence and are comparable to some of the best NCAA programs in the US. They are also one team. They bring a certain level of skill but also they are well coached. The combined team will not have the same level of cohesion, not to mention the lower skill level. I think this decision is not one made for hockey purposes.

It’s sad cause it’s the end of an era. But also exciting for the MacEwan/NAIT boys to get a shot at it. Those teams have done a good job moving up in the ranks and deserve to take part in this game.

Cam Lewis: As a U of A alum who covered the game for a couple of years for the student paper, it’s a sad thing to see. It’s just a shinny game that doesn’t mean much, but it was a hyped up time on campus every year. I don’t think the Oilers wanted to keep going to Clare Drake, while I’m very certain the U of A’s Athletics Department wanted to have it there. Oh well, it’s a nice thing for the other schools to get in on the mix too.

I assume the Oilers got a better deal out of the MacEwan and NAIT than they had in place with the U of A? This is business and I’m guessing that OEG found a better deal and took it.

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