So close to having won a Cup, yet so far away from getting a shot at the next one.
It’s only the beginning, but the Edmonton Oilers’ collective eye is already on the end goal after ending up on the wrong side of one in Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.
The off-season report card looks strong. Then again, last year showed just how much all the prognostication really means.
Still, things are looking up for them. And that’s saying something for a team that doesn’t have all that much higher to climb before reaching the top.
Front office: A
Ken Holland goes out and Stan Bowman comes in as general manager of the team.
And through it all, the Oilers managed to navigate free agency by improving their top six, maintaining much of their bottom six and structuring continuity in net, all while creating chicken salad out of the chicken scratch that was their constrained salary cap.
Sure, they lost a pair of promising up-and-comers to the St. Louis Blues, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Instead of veering off course and potentially hitting the ditch by matching big-ticket offer sheets for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, management took their lumps in order to maintain course.
The last thing they want to do is have extra unplanned cap space tied up on young and yet-to-be proven players now and into the future. Of course, that didn’t make it any easier seeing these two make their way out of the city, especially after all the potential they put on display through some standup work in last year’s push through the playoffs.
It’s the kind of thinking that shows management is making a concerted effort to be proactive instead of reactive. And instills a feeling of confidence in the fan base that theirs is a team on track for a long elusive Stanley Cup championship.
Coaching staff: A
Boy, did that gambit ever pay off? Of course, it could just as easily have backfired when the Oilers made the decision, midstream, to fire the head coach with the best winning percentage in club history. And with a rookie NHL head coach replacement, at that.
Jay Woodcroft (.643) was moved aside and Ken Holland was ushered in to clean up a puzzling mess that saw the team many predicted would reach the Stanley Cup Final, instead stumble and fall straight on their keisters right out of the gates, hitting a franchise-low 2-9-1 start to the season.
Not long after, Holland got the call, reuniting with team captain Connor McDavid, whom he coached in junior. The familiarity proved invaluable, as the Oilers wasted no time stringing together streaks of eight and then 16 wins to force their way back into the playoff picture.
While Holland’s calm, cool approach acted as a launch pad for the Oilers high octane offence to take off, Hall-of-Fame defenceman Paul Coffey’s repatriation behind the bench as an assistant coach was a springboard for the entire defence to pick up their proverbial socks to the point where the offence no longer had to score five goals to win games.
While it’s a small sample size not even a full season long yet, Holland (.703) currently boasts the highest winning percentage in club history.
Leadership: A
Let’s face it, who would you rather have at the top of your roster’s food chain than the preeminent predator of the NHL himself?
McDavid, together with right-hand man Leon Draisaitl, newly minted 50-goal scorer Zach Hyman, ballistic blue-liner Evan Bouchard and baby faced elder statesman of the dressing room, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, make for about as solid a foundation as there is to hold a team together.
And they lead by example, which is the best kind of leadership to have.
Got problems? The Oilers sure don’t.
About as bad as it got was a little jawing on the bench between Corey Perry and Evander Kane that was caught on camera one game. And it was a one-and done that never had to be brought up again.
In fact, look no further than how those two former bad boys of the NHL fell in line after arriving in Edmonton. Both found ways to contribute on the ice while staying away from making all the wrong headlines off of it.
But this established leadership core isn’t all about reclamation projects. It’s done something no Oilers group has been able to do for decades, and that’s make Edmonton a destination for free agents.
Forwards: A
Not much more needs to be said about Connor & Co.
McDavid and Hyman will get another chance to run up the stats sheet.
The addition of Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner make for a new-look second line alongside Leon Draisaitl that has Oilers fans salivating.
The return of a third line that found instant chemistry in the playoffs, while contributing greatly on the penalty kill provides a backbone for secondary scoring that could alleviate the pressure on Edmonton’s top guns.
The key word here is improvement. And that’s saying a lot.
Defence: C
Aside from the top pairing of Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm, all these glowing reviews get a little more dull with an Oilers defence that has undergone some changes over the off-season. And not necessarily for the better.
Vincent Desharnais left in free agency, leaving a six-foot-seven-sized hole the team will look to fill with new physicality.
Cody Ceci was traded.
Broberg was gone before he could really get going.
And to top it all off, Darnell Nurse is expected to miss a chunk of training camp due to a lingering playoff injury.
The biggest question surrounding this squad right now is which new additions will get paired with Nurse and Brett Kulak?
Goaltending: A
The least of the Oilers concerns sees the duo of starter Stuart Skinner and backup Calvin Pickard return to patrol the crease.
Skinner is coming into his own and took big steps after clearly claiming ownership of the starting role on this team.
The only question is how much rest the Oilers will give their starter throughout the season, knowing they have full faith in Pickard to come in and hold down the fort, even in playoffs.
Overall Grade: A-
Edmonton is the place to be right now.
It’s why key free agents arrived this summer.
And why many integral role players opted to take less money instead of chasing bigger contracts elsewhere.
Who knows how long this club will be able to ride this high tide? But for the moment, things are coming together swimmingly in the former City of Champions.
Come June, those old signs might just have to get dusted off again.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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