Assuming you’re a fan of the Edmonton Oilers, you just woke up this morning and for the first time in years the team you cheer for has what resembles an NHL caliber roster.
Yeah, there is at least 1 major question mark on the team (2C) but the fact remains that the Oilers today are lightyears ahead of where they were a year ago, and they still might be able to get a competent centerman for relatively little investment. But just to be sure I’m not overstating things too much, here was the opening night roster for the Oilers of 2013-2014.
Smyth - Hall - Hemsky Perron - Arcobello - Eberle Joensuu - Gordon - Yakupov Gazdic - Acton - Brown
Ference - J. Schultz Smid - Petry N. Schultz - Belov
Dubnyk LaBarbara
Bask in its glory! Soak up the shame and compromise.
Right off the hop you’ll remember that lil Nuge and Sam Gagner were missing because of injury. RNH was still on the mend after season ending shoulder surgery and Gagner was eating through a straw. The 4th line was a wreck and Yakupov was on an island with Joensuu and Gordon.
The Defense featured Ference playing a complete pairing over his head, depended on Justin Schultz’ ascendance to hockey stardom, and the bottom half was rounded out by Smid, Nick Schultz, and Belov.
And finally, it was Dubnyk’s show in net. It was a contract year and he had just earned the fulltime starter’s spot. It wasn’t supposed to end the way it did, but (spoiler alert) everybody died at the end.
Now let’s take a peek at the current Oilers squad!
Hall – RNH – Eberle Pouliot – Arcobello – Perron Yakupov – Draisaitl – Purcell Hendricks – Gordon – Lander/Joensuu/Gazdic
Nikitin – Schultz Marincin – Petry Ference – Fayne
Scrivens Fasth
That is an NHL lineup. Petry and Fayne might be interchangeable on the roster right now and the team may indeed move their unsigned RFA for help down the middle. However, as it stands today the Oilers have a real honest to goodness NHL team that should be able to compete for that final playoff spot.
Just as MacT stated he wanted, there are 3 scoring lines who can compete against varying different levels of competition and in different situations. If you’re worried about Arcobello and Draisaitl down the middle then you should be comforted at the thought that the Oilers seem to be aware that they need at least 1 more pivot.
But if they do not find the guy they want, then at least the Oilers are filling that spot with a player in Arcobello who was better than 50% on the draw, lead all other Oiler forwards in CorsiRel, and who dominated the AHL when he was returned there (28 points in 15 games). There are worse alternatives at Center than Mark Arcobello.
As for Draisaitl, he’s the 3rd Overall pick in the last entry draft. He is more physically mature than most 18 year old kids and his has incredible skill. Is it really rushing him if he makes the NHL as an 18 year old? Last year 5 of the top 6 played in the NHL right away. From the 2012 Draft class 3 of the first 4 forwards played in the NHL on a regular basis right away. This isn’t an uncommon thing. Heck, even the Bruins played an 18 year old Seguin the year they won the Cup. Get ready for him to play.
What MacT has been able to do to the Oilers’ roster is pretty incredible. There are at least 9 different faces on the lineup today as compared to what they had when the last season opened and potentially more on the way. What’s more, MacTavish hasn’t robbed Peter to pay Paul. The core is intact and every addition has been to supplement them.
And that Defense, though still lacking a true 1D, has 6 legitimate NHL players on it. There’s no bad bet from Russia who looked good in a tournament, notably missing are Dennis Grebeshkov or any other retread player, it’s just established NHL Defensemen. The closest thing to a question mark is probably Marincin and he was one of the team’s best players last season.
So complaints should be fewer and further between today, Oiler fans. MacTavish has done a good job changing the complexion of this team.
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