Kep Offseason Losses: Ethan Moreau, Patrick O’Sullivan, Fernando Pisani, Mike Comrie
Key Offseason Additions: Taylor Hall, Kurtis Foster, Alexandre Giroux, Colin Fraser
Last Season Ranking: 15th place, West
Number one draft pick Taylor Hall is projected to play on the second line to begin the season. Only time will tell how soon he will graduate to the top line in Edmonton.
Offense: If there was any consolation for finishing DFL (if you don’t know what DFL means, see definition #1 here), GM Steve Tambellini was able to start the rebuilding process with number one draft pick Taylor Hall. Hall will be a full-time player in the league this season, expect him to start on the second line with Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle. Gagner failed to match the production of his 49-point rookie season two years ago. If he ends up playing with Hall full-time, look for both of those players to score a lot of points. The top line is expected to be Dustin Penner, Shawn Horcoff, and Ales Hemsky. If Hall starts out playing well and Penner struggles, don’t be surprised if new head coach Tom Renney will put the rookie on the top line. The Oilers possess more youth than a college freshman orientation class, and must do better than their 27th ranking of 2.51 goals per game.
Defense: It’s scary for a team going into a season when you had the worse goals-against average the season before. Even more scary is when you lost your primary two-way forwards (Moreau and Pisani) and the top six forwards are more one-dimensional than two. The top four defenseman are Tom Gilbert, Sheldon Souray, Ryan Whitney, and Kurtis Foster. What each of them lack is size and a shutdown mentality. Looks like the Oilers will have to win a lot of high scoring games in order to compete.
Goaltending: Who knows who will be in goal for the Oilers. Nikolai Khabibulin signed a four-year, $15 million deal before last season. That turned out to be a mistake then he appeared in 18 games and suffered a back injury. The team allowed him to rehab in Phoenix where he was arrested for DUI. With his legal troubles and back injury lingering over the team’s head, they have to rely on Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk is the goalie of the future in Edmonton. He is young (24 years old), still new to the NHL game (19 games played), and has the size needed to cover the crease (6-foot-5, 200 pounds). Look for Dubnyk and Deslauriers to split time to determine the true No. 1 goalie if Khabibulin can’t play this season.
Season Outlook:Renney must change his style according to his players, which is what former bench boss Pay Quinn failed to do. Quinn tried to use the youth to play an up-tempo style until he realized they weren’t really good at it. He then tried to play a conservative forecheck system until that blew up in his face as well. Depending on how his team begins the season, Renney has to use the players to his advantage and play the style most suitable for his team. Edmonton has what it takes to become a playoff team in the future, but don’t expect them to make the playoffs this season. Look for them to finish anywhere between 11th and 13th in the conference.
