The shortest off-season in Edmonton Oilers history is over and the NHL pre-season is upon us.
That means it’s time to hunker down for training camp ahead of the franchise’s 45th year in the NHL, and 52nd year in existence.
But just how important is training camp, anyway?
After all, can’t this team just follow the lead of the top player in the game right now all the way to the promised land? Never mind that. So much talent has emerged around him in recent years that Connor McDavid doesn’t have to try and do it all by himself anymore.
Of course, there are two ways to look at it.
One, the Oilers proved they had the grit to overcome any obstacle, however insurmountable it seemed, throughout the regular season and once again in the final playoff round. Almost.
And two, in a season that came down to which team could score one final goal in the end, perhaps a better beginning to things could have made all the difference in the world to the Oilers.
PROLOGUE
The main thing to keep in mind heading into training camp is the Oilers can’t wait to get it over and done with. The thing is, the same thing could just as soon be said about the entire regular season to come.
That’s what happens when a team finishes on the wrong side of one goal that determined the Stanley Cup champions in Game 7 of last year’s final.
Eighty-nine agonizing days will have passed from then until the puck drops on the Oilers’ first pre-season game.
And while they want nothing less than to get themselves back into the position to be the ones hoisting the Cup this time around, they can’t exactly allow themselves to skip any steps along the way or get caught looking too far ahead.
So, this is where the journey begins anew.
PRE-SEASON
The Oilers’ pre-season schedule begins on Sunday, Sept. 22, at home against the Winnipeg Jets (4 p.m.), one of eight exhibition games on the docket over a span of 13 days. On Sept. 23, they are holding simultaneous split-squad games — one at Rogers Place and one at Scotiabank Saddledome — against the provincial rival Calgary Flames (7 p.m.).
THE SQUAD
Things will look a little bit different on this team from last year. But such is the case when it comes to yearly turnover in professional sports.
The thing about this year’s Oilers is they managed to hold onto a remarkable amount of free agents thanks to what can perhaps best be described as a shared feeling of unfinished business in the dressing room.
Perhaps the biggest boon is the return of a third line centred by Adam Henrique, next to Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown.
All three were set to become free agents over the off-season, and all three decided to forego what would have meant a bump in pay on the open market in order to return to what they see as their best chance to win a Stanley Cup this year.
The trio proved to be a spark plug over the course of the playoffs. They concocted Grade A chemistry the moment they came together in a formula that was as explosive as it was resistant and resilient, scoring at crucial times on their post-season march and forming a large part of Edmonton’s league-leading penalty kill.
Look for them to pick up in camp where they left off together last year, which could very well give the Oilers a huge head start in a secondary-scoring department that’s been such a sore subject for the club over the years.
McDOING IT AGAIN
As Connor McDavid goes, so too do the Edmonton Oilers.
Yes, this would still likely be a staunch playoff contender even without their top dog, as Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Henrique, Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and, last but not least, Stuart Skinner form a mighty impressive backbone on the roster.
But the heart and soul pumps out of No. 97 and through everyone else.
Their hands-down leader, to be sure.
Anyone who doesn’t believe it only has to look back to the beginning of last year, when the Oilers rocketed through the pre-season with the end goal already in mind, only to fall flat on their faces on the way to a 2-9-1 start that ultimately ended in a coaching change.
While he still contributed on the stats sheet, the best player in the world looked like a shadow of his former self early on, and the entire team struggled out of the gates because of it.
Looking back, McDavid admitted he perhaps pushed too hard in his off-season training and throughout training camp.
Sure, the Oilers eventually recorrected themselves and overcame any and all adversity that came their way, up to and including the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final, where Florida took a commanding 3-0 lead.
But what might have happened if the Oilers hadn’t dug themselves such a huge hole to have to climb out of to start the regular season? Could it have made a difference when it came to home ice advantage in something like that final round?
These questions are meaningless now, of course. But the same can’t be said for the first steps the Oilers will take into this season, and a strong training camp could certainly set the tone.
BESIDE DRAISAITL?
The other question to ask will be who plays beside Draisaitl on the second line?
Gone are Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod, while Evander Kane is set to undergo sports-hernia surgery. And head coach Kris Knoblauch likely isn’t in any rush to break up the duo of Nugent-Hopkins and 50-goal scorer Hyman alongside McDavid anytime soon.
That leaves newcomers Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson as the likely suspects for the second-line openings. Both veterans came over in free agency and are seen as instant upgrades for Draisaitl, who still managed to finish seventh in league scoring with 106 points (41 goals, 65 assists), despite having a revolving carousel on his wings last season.
And training camp will offer a chance at fast familiarity for him and his new-look crew.
THREE FOR THE FOURTH
That leaves the fourth line, which the Oilers have some wiggle room on.
Don’t add their ages up, but there is certainly some experience available here with centre Derek Ryan and the ever-pesky wingman Corey Perry. OK, so what if they combine for 76 years on the planet? It just means more to draw from by whatever set of fresh legs the Oilers end up putting with them.
And there is no shortage of youthful exuberance to choose from, either. Will homegrown talent Matt Savoie, the 22nd overall draft pick in 2022, get a look after being traded for McLeod and Tyler Tullio on July 5?
How about the 10th overall pick in 2019, Vasily Podkolzin? Or Roby Jarventie, who both arrived in a nifty bit of off-season manoeuvering this summer involving a fourth-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators?
The thing is, the cupboards have been stocked. Now it’s time for the coaching staff to get cooking in their camp kitchen and find all the right ingredients.
DEFENSIVE SHUFFLE
The good news is the Oilers’ top pairing of Ekholm and Bouchard is back.
The bad news is Nurse and Brett Kulak are going to have new partners on the blue line, with Vinny Desharnais departing in free agency and Cody Ceci getting traded to the San Jose Sharks. Up-and-comer Philip Broberg would have slotted in nicely, as he did in the playoffs, had he not been lost to an offer sheet by the St. Louis Blues over the summer.
One of the pairings will get Troy Stecher, who came aboard March 7 in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes, while free-agent acquisition Josh Brown is expected to fill the other.
Free-agent acquisition Connor Carrick, now with his seventh NHL team, also provides a veteran alternative, while young stay-at-home defenceman Ty Emberson is a dark horse in the running to claim a spot.
Just how long it takes to determine the best fit for the new pieces on defence, and if they will end up being as effective as they were with the outgoing trio remains to be seen. But training camp will give the Oilers their first chance at discovering some answers.
GOALTENDING TANDEM
If there is one question the Oilers don’t have to think about, it’s what will happen in net this year.
Skinner comes into his third NHL season as the indisputable starter, while former journeyman Calvin Pickard proved himself a more than capable backup after getting called up in place of Jack Campbell early last season.
Pickard signed a two-year extension June 28, after coming up big when he was called upon in the playoffs. That leaves only one question in the Oilers net this year: How much will Skinner get spelled off along the way? And that’s a good problem to have.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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