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Separating Oilers' First-Day Fact from Fiction

September 19, 2014, 5:23 AM ET [176 Comments]
Ryan Garner
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The opening day of training camp ranks among the strangest on the NHL calendar. It’s one of the most highly anticipated, simply because the hockey-starved masses finally have a chance to see players and coaches back under the same roof. However, the collective bargaining agreement mandates that nobody can actually take the ice, so the day is reserved for off-ice fitness testing and “how did you spend your summer” media scrums.

Unfortunately, those scribe sessions produce two strange side effects. First, young players often find themselves surrounded by media members twice their age inquiring about offseason changes to their body composition and mass. Off-putting? Absolutely. Especially when people start speculating about (or salivating over) the impact an additional 8-15 pounds will have on a player’s performance. Trust me, if a guy looked like the second coming of Nick Stajduhar at 188 he’s not going to become Boris Mironov at 202.

Second, we get our initial sound bites of the season, and many are capable of setting off even the most poorly tuned BS detectors. You see, on the first day of training camp each player’s optimism rivals that of a deluded motivational speaker—the kind that constantly spew sunshine and fart rainbows. They’re all bigger, stronger and faster than ever before, armed with lessons learned from past mistakes, and moving forward with visions of Stanley Cup champagne showers dancing in their heads.

The Edmonton Oilers reassembled at Rexall Place on Thursday morning, fully recovered from the 82-game Bataan Death March they endured during the 2013-14 season. Overall, it was an uneventful day. After the annual torture test weeded out those who dared enter camp looking like a post-lockout Keith Tkachuk, players and coaches faced their first media firing squad of the season. Let’s look at a sampling of quotes, separating some of the first-day fact from fiction.

Jordan Eberle: “I’ve definitely shown that I can be a dominant player in this league. … I think I made strides in becoming a better player last year, especially. Obviously they need more out of me production-wise and defensively if this team’s going to do well.”

Has Eberle ever looked like a dominant NHL player? Not to my baby blues, aside from a couple stretches during the 2011-12 season. Last year was a mixed bag for Eberle, although he came on strong down the stretch, scoring 15 points during his final 12 games. I’ve always maintained that he would be the big-four forward I would move in exchange for a top-pairing defenseman, but if his shooting percentage flirts with the 18.9 he posted three seasons ago watch out. Verdict: A flourish of fiction, but follows it up with fact.

David Perron: “We need support from the other lines, and that takes a lot of pressure from [the first line] if they don’t have to score every single night. In this league now, the West is too good and we have to have more than one line.”

Obvious observations from Perron, who could be the Oilers’ most important forward this season, especially if he’s responsible for developing chemistry with rookie centre Leon Draisaitl and showing him the ropes. Spreading the offense (and ice time) among two or three forward lines will ease the burden on Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle. Forcing teams to respect additional scoring options would be a great start. Verdict: Fact, although it’s easier said than done with a mix of new faces.

Ben Scrivens: “Vik [Viktor Fasth] and I are going to have people nipping at our heels, no question, and that’s going to force us to play better, which is going to help the team. We obviously have some good prospects who are just waiting for their chance. The challenge is on Vik and I to prevent them from getting that opportunity.”

Who are these goaltenders waiting in the wings for a spot in the Oilers’ crease? Richard Bachman just turned 27 and was serviceable with Oklahoma City last season, while Frans Tuohimaa is unproven on North American ice. The Tylers (Bunz and Rimmer) have been shaky at each level of development, Laurent Brossoit needs stability and seasoning, and Keven Bouchard seems to be the longest of long-shot prospects. Verdict: Egregious fiction, as Scrivens and Fasth will not feel any heat from below.

Ben Scrivens [on battling Fasth for playing time]: “I don’t think the team’s going to care who’s in, as long as we’re giving the team a chance to win. That’s the biggest thing, not being a liability when either one of us is in net. However it shakes out that it happens, we need to give this team good goaltending.”

After the Devan Dubnyk experience, I’m jaded about goaltenders. I suppose that’s to be expected when you spend nine years tracking a guy’s progression, scooping up his first bobblehead in Stockton and spying his stats in Springfield before watching his NHL apprenticeship. Then, when you earnestly believe he can take over the starting job he not only sharts himself, but torpedoes an entire season doing it. Verdict: Fact, because I don’t care who takes the reins, as long as he can start more than 60 games in a season and win the majority of them.

Teddy Purcell [speaking about the Oilers’ new additions]: “We’re not going to come in and save the day, but we’re going to come in and provide some good depth. Everyone knows this is a very tough conference and our opponents are all big-body guys, and I think they wear teams down pretty well. We have the skill to compete with those guys, but if we add the depth that we did and a little size it will help in the long run.”

I like Purcell, but I’m a little concerned about this division that continues to exist in the team. For years the Oilers had the young guys and old guys, or pipeline vs. pasture, if you will. Now that division seems to have shifted into new additions vs. longtime Oilers, with Purcell already deflecting some of the blame away from himself and others if things don’t go smoothly. Why can’t the Oilers just be a team, with everyone taking accountability? Until that happens, nobody should expect a playoff berth. Verdict: Fact, although the tone is disconcerting.

Nail Yakupov: “God made me who I am. I cannot be like Crosby or Shaquille O’Neal or those guys, but I can be Nail Yakupov and we’ll see what happens. I promise I’ll do 100 percent and I’ll push very hard.”

I firmly believe Yakupov is the wild card on this year’s squad, even more than a rookie like Draisaitl. At this point, he could score either 44 goals or 14, and neither result would be a huge surprise. Clearly he’s tired of the comparisons to Stamkos, Ovechkin, Daigle, or any other forward taken first overall in the NHL draft, and I’m very curious to see how he responds during his third season in the league. Verdict: Fact, and I would love to see Yakupov refer to himself in the third person throughout the season.

Nail Yakupov: “You gotta be positive this year. If you’re gonna think about all the negatives from last year I don’t think that’s good. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t make the playoffs or you’re the guys who won the Stanley Cup in L.A., I’m pretty sure they forgot about last season. They just want to improve things and try to make another one. I think you’ve gotta stay positive and not think about last year.”

Nothing good can come from harping on last season’s nightmare. It happened, and I’d like to think that we’re all better, stronger people for having endured it. Every player and coach has the chance to start the season with a clean slate and Yakupov, more than any other player, has to be grateful for a chance to start fresh. However, if Dallas Eakins makes him a healthy scratch five games into the season once again I might go ballistic. Verdict: Good-natured fiction, because there’s no way any Kings player has forgotten last season.

Dallas Eakins: “We’re in a passionate market. I truly love it. The people who work in a non-traditional hockey market, I just feel like they’re missing out on a lot. When there’s tough times there’s going to be some negativity and people pushing you along, but when the good times come that’s an excellent feeling as well.”

Leave it to the head coach to give us the first this-guy-is-hopelessly-disingenuous quote of the season. For all the rose petals Eakins wants to spread across our path, there’s no chance he loves his children being verbally abused for the hockey team’s performance, or media members constantly questioning his tactics, or disgruntled fans calling for his head every other night. Of course, he knows the only way around that is winning hockey games. Verdict: Pure fiction, especially considering there haven’t been any good times during his tenure yet.

Dallas Eakins [on the team’s lack of stated goals for the season]: “I don’t want our guys to be out here telling you how great we are, and we don’t want guys publicizing our expectations being much too high or much too low. We’re in a rabid market, and as soon as it gets out there then that’s the bible. This is all about the process, it’s how are we going to get better today; what did I do today to get better and did I gain any respect today. That’s how we want to go about this, and then everything looks after itself.”

Eakins is in a tough spot here. We’d all love for him to come out and explicitly state that the playoffs are the ultimate goal, but then he’s just setting himself up for immense failure, as he did last season. This year he’s taken a step back, emphasizing the day-to-day process of building a hockey team rather than focusing on the end goal. No problems there, as long as his focus isn’t simply self-preservation. Verdict: Fact, because this team will still be hard-pressed to make the playoffs and he knows it.

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