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Oilers Season Opener - Quest for Cup Begins Again |
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The Edmonton Oilers came up a goal short in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last season against the Florida Panthers. While I'm sure the memory of that hurts for Oilers fans, for the players it is all in the past. Yesterday McDavid shut down reporter Mark Spector who tried to ask Connor a question about how things ended last season. #97 said he was done answering questions about last year; the focus is on the 24/25 season now.
The roster is set for tonight and with the exception of Dermott, this is a roster that we could have predicted two months ago:
RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Skinner-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Janmark-Henrique-Brown
Podkolzin-Ryan-Perry
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Emberson
Kulak-Dermott
Skinner
The Oilers are deeper in their top six than they have at any point in the McDavid era but I do have concerns with the speed and skill of the bottom six and worry about a lack of scoring depth there. I do think that Lavoie can help in this regard, luckily the Oilers were able to reclaim him from Vegas. Lavoie will once again get top line minutes in the AHL until the Oilers are ready to recall him.
Having Noah Philp and Lavoie get reps in together I do think is an excellent decision by management. Get those two players together, building as much chemistry as possible until they are needed in Edmonton. Ryan and Perry are aged vets and I don't think it's likely either plays a full 82 this season. Philp and Lavoie on the fourth line goes a long way in improving the bottom six skill.
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The defense remains the biggest concern on this team and likely will until the trade deadline. As I have stated a few times, I think Emberson can be good enough as a #4 so long as Nurse can simplify aspects of his own game. Kulak is a great third pair player and should help whomever of Stecher, Dermott, or even Brown be a good enough third pairing.
With all the roster moves and shuffles made recently, including Kane now being put on LTIR, the Oilers, if they don't make other roster additions will have accrued roughly 4.8 million in cap space by the trade deadline. That is 4.8 million for a second pair right shot defenseman and potentially a depth scoring option as well.
Last season the Oilers got off to about as poor a start as possible. Tonight the Oilers begin a 4 game homestand against the Jets, a playoff team that was not happy with how things ended last season. After that it's the Hawks, Flames, and Flyers, three non playoff teams from last year who all likely won't be playoff teams again this year. At minimum this Oilers team should be able to get six points out of these first four games.
The first game of the season is always a messy affair full of veterans, who haven't skated nearly their hardest through the pre-season, working their way back into game form. Usually the first game is won not necessarily by the better team, but the team able to capitalize on the mistakes of their opponent first.
Looking forward to covering another Oilers season with you all.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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