Last seasons eleventh place finish in the West was disheartening for the Oilers and their fans. Considering, the Oilers at one point last season, mainly with twenty or fewer games left in the season, had a share for top spot in the North West Division. Things quickly fell apart, and the Oilers finished six points out of the final playoff spot. No doubt the Oilers had the team to compete, but it was said that former Head Coach Craig MacTavish had lost the locker room. That led to his resignation, which inevitably led to good things.
First the Oilers hired Pat Quinn to lead the Oilers out of dismay and into good fortune. Following right behind was Tom Renney who will be working right under Quinn. Those two men pose a formidable twosome in coaching, and with their expertise, Quinn on offense and Renney on defense, the Oilers should make the playoffs. Especially now that they have a legit number one goaltender as they went out and signed Nikolai Khabibulin to a two year contract. Dwayne Roloson was more than capable of being a good goalie, but age has caught up to him and he isn’t a true number one goalie anymore. With Khabibulin, the Oilers are getting a Stanley Cup champion, a goalie that can steal games, and a goalie that is coming off a fine year with Chicago, when he recorded 25 wins in 42 starts and posted a GAA of 2.33.
With goaltending settled for the Oilers, up next is defense, one that should vastly improve on from last year. The Oilers of last year were prone on giving up leads and that one goal you just couldn’t afford to allow.
Leading the defense will be Steve Staios, a defender who plays the game hard and is always willing to sacrifice his body to block a shot. Staios is a reliable defender who played in over 76 games in five of the past six seasons. Most likely to play alongside Staios will be Sheldon Souray, who finally played one full season with the Oilers since signing with them two seasons ago. Souray is an offensive force on the blue line who can easily post a 50 point season.
One defender the Oilers dearly missed was Lubomir Visnovsky, who only got into fifty games due to injury. When healthy, Visnovsky is as steady as they come, and can easily be a top two defensemen on this team. And it won’t be surprising to see that happen during the season, with the defensive minded Tom Renney on hand as a coach. His offensive totals have dropped the past five seasons, but Visnovsky can still score 30 points a season.
Three other youngsters’ will be patrolling the blue line Tom Gilbert, Ladislav Smid, and Dennis Grebeshkov. In two full seasons in the NHL, Gilbert has proven to be one of the best up and coming defensemen in the game. In his rookie season he was a minus player, and last year he was a plus player. One thing he has shown he can do is score, and his point total jumped to 45 from 33 a year ago.
Ladislav Smid is still an up and down player but has shown at times he can play the game at a consistence pace. Grebeshkov has been a plus player in his two seasons with the Oilers so far.
The Edmonton defense should rank in the top ten with most points scored, and will also be a physical team to play against.
Offensively, a lot of the Oilers’ top players struggled with consistency. Leading the way in that category was Shawn Horcoff who had a measly 53 points and ranked behind Sheldon Souray to finish third in team scoring. It is safe to say that the Oilers offense was so bad, that two of the top four scorers on the team were defensemen.
One player that actually played to his level was Ales Hemsky, but he too could’ve had a better season as he only had 66 points. There are plenty of players on this roster that need to improve their point totals and their overall game. Good thing Edmonton hired Pat Quinn because he doesn’t take shit from no player, has an old school mentality, which will light a fire under the whole team to win.
Here is just a list of the players that need to step up, Andrew Cogliano; his 38 points from last season were weak. Sam Gagner, his 41 points and 16 goals just didn’t cut it. He went on a prolonged slump for scoring a goal which lasted near twenty games. Patrick O’Sullivan had a whatever type of season and scored just 43 points. Dustin Penner is a complete bust when he signed that seven year deal, and the Oilers are stuck with this player until the end. It will be fun to see how Pat Quinn will utilize him. Robert Nilsson is a young player that needs to step it up big time because he is looking more and more like a wasted talent.
Mike Comrie is back for another go around with the Oilers and still has that fast speed. Who knows how the Oilers fans will treat him, and they are expecting a good season out of him, if not he will be scrutinized mercifully.
Two players that may get looked at this season are Jordan Eberle, who will be a long shot to make the big club. Rob Schremp really needs to prove he can play in the NHL, because he has some amazing hands and speed, which are going to waste in the AHL.
OVERALL--> THE OILERS HAVE A SOLID DEFENSE, AND AN OFFENSE THAT IS GOOD, BUT CAN ALSO BE GREAT.
POSITIVE--> EXCELLENT DEFENSE WHICH WILL RANK IN THE TOP IN SCORING AND DEFENSIVE PLAY. FINALLY A SOLID AND EXPERIENCED GOALTENDER. PAT QUINN AND HIS COACHING STAFF.
NEGATIVE--> THE OFFENSE FROM LAST SEASON WAS SUSPECT AT BEST AND THAT PROBLEM MAY CONTINUE THIS SEASON DUE TO ALL THE YOUTH.
X-FACTOR--> SHAWN HORCOFF IS THE DRIVING FORCE ON OFFENSE, AND WHEN HE PLAYS LIKE CRAP SO DOES THE WHOLE OFFENSIVE UNIT, BUT WHEN HE IS HOT, THE OFFENSE CLICKS.
SLEEPER PICK--> THE OILERS ARE STACKED WITH PLAYERS THAT MAY STEP UP THEIR GAME AND EXPLODE FOR A BREAKOUT SEASON. ALL THE OFFENSIVE PLAYERS MENTIONED ABOVE QUALIFY FOR THIS CATEGORY.
PREDICTION--> THE EDMONTON OILERS WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS GAINING ONE OF THE LOWER SEEDS, 6-8.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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Some interesting points and thanks for the write-up. Not everything was addressed this off-season like faceoffs and size but if the new coaching staff can make the skaters play like they care, anything can happen and at least we made a step in the right direction but playoffs might still be another year away.
Seems like you mixed up a few contract years between Penner and Khabi. The Oilers signed 36 year old, injury prone Khabi to a 4 year deal when everyone else was offering 1-2 year deals. Penner is entering year 3 of a 5 year offer sheet/contract, not a 7 year deal. It is Khabi the Oilers are stuck with until the end because of the over 35 rule. Don't write Penner off just yet, maybe Quinn will use him properly this year. If not, at least he will be easier to move as time goes on, and he was part of the proposed Heatley trade so there’s at least one team that will take him.
Khabi's going to have to work a lot harder than he had to in CHI if he has any hope of matching the season that #1 goalie Roli had for us. Best of luck to Khabi - his best season post lockout was behind a strong team with a better D and O and he only played 42 regular games. That's not going to cut it on the Oilers and if he goes down with injury (66 games lost to injury in the past 4 years), we have 2 unproven backups. The grass isn’t always greener, like they say.
Roloson maintained a sv% of .915 vs Khabi's .919 over more games, facing more shots per game and dealing with more turnovers. His sv% post lockout is actually higher than Khabi's and he maintained it with more work. He was the only reason the Oilers stayed in the hunt for a playoff spot as long as they did last season. Looking at last season, the Oilers had 7 stolen games (see stats.hockeyanalysis.com) and CHI none. Roli was the one stealing most if not all of those games. If you compare their performance post-lockout, it was a lateral move at best. It’s not like Roli choked in the playoffs to lose out on a cup ring either.
Funny how you say age has caught up with Roli but it didn't prevent him from playing 36 games in a row or being the oldest goalie to play more than 60 games, and after all that, he played for his country for a month. I would say given Khabi's recurring injuries, and the fact he has only played 60 games once in the past 4 years that age has caught up with him as well. We shall see how durable and solid he can be for the Oilers, he needs to have a healthy year.
MacT was fired but if he hadn't been he would have resigned. If he had resigned first he still wouldn't be collecting the remaining year of his contract. You are right though, he lost the room. He's a good coach but change was needed long ago and should have come mid-season at the latest. Hopefully Quinn/Renney breath some fresh air into the Oilers and maximize their potential. Hopefully they can give some support to their goalie this year.
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