I will post my final ten names of my mock draft tomorrow morning. To tide you over until then the Oilers have announced their full schedule for next season. You can find the link to that here.
The Oilers need to get off to a strong start this season to avoid tripping out of the gate like they did last season. At least they will get to start October off with a nice easy......
Uh oh.
The Oilers open their season in Gothenburg, Sweden against the New Jersey Devils on October 6th. Immediately after that they head out on a road trip against Boston and the Rangers before finishing up in Winnipeg. They play their first home game October 18th against Boston.
The rest of the games in October are against Nashville twice, Pittsburgh, Stanley Cup champions Washington, Chicago and Minnesota. The Oilers play only two games in October against teams that did not make the playoffs last season.
November will not be much kinder to the team. After finishing up at home against Minnesota and Chicago the team goes on a four game road trip to the East. From there they have a two game homestand against Montreal and Colorado... go to Calgary for a game... then host Vegas... then go on another three game road trip against the California teams.
The optimist in me says this will help motivate the team to start the season strong; playing against the toughest competition early and helping to season them for the rest of the season......
The rest of me thinks the Oilers could find themselves below .500 after the first two months of the season.
Some other quick hits.
Oilers Assistant Coach Glen Gulutzan will get his first action against his old team November 17th in Calgary. That is also the first game the Oilers have against a divisional opponent. Travel time is never friendly for the Oilers at that is especially the case this season.
The best months for the Oilers will likely be December and March where the team gets to enjoy some long stretches of home games. The team plays 18 of their 42 home games in these two months.
Hopefully the Oilers find themselves in playoff contention in the spring. Of the 14 games they play in March, only six of those are against teams that made the playoffs last season. As long as the team can keep their head above water until the end of February and make smart deadline moves fans could watch a fun run to the end of the season.
The Oilers wrap up their regular season against the Flames Saturday April 6th. With some luck fans of both teams will be excited and talking how that match will be a great setup for the Battle of Alberta in the first round of the playoffs.