As the summer drags on I thought I’d take the time to take a look at the other teams that make up the Pacific Division, what they did and where I think they could end up when its all said and done. This time I will look at a team who has seemed to make all the right moves this summer on what still may be a long road to returning to playoff contention.
Who’s in:
F – Lauri Korpikoski (Trade)
D – Eric Gryba (Trade)
G – Cam Talbot (Trade)
D – Griffin Reinhart (Trade)
F – Mark Letestu (Free Agent)
D – Andrej Sekera (Free Agent)
Who’s out:
F Boyd Gordon (Trade)
F Matt Fraiser (Free Agent)
Ian’s Quick Breakdown:
The Edmonton Oilers are going to get a ton of hype going into this season and justifiably so. There is really nothing at all to dislike about the Oilers off season thus far starting with winning the draft lottery and the right to draft Connor McDavid who will live up to the hype and also made the Oilers a destination for the first time in years. The Oilers reshaped their organization by hiring what was arguably the 2nd most sought after coach on the market in Todd McLellan before adding Peter Chiarelli as general manager. While Chiarelli may have left a cap mess in Boston, his moves this summer have been nothing short of excellent. While the Oilers have had 4 first overall picks in the last six years one could argue that in the years they didn’t draft 1st overall during their downturn they picked later when guys who were closer to being generational talents were available like Stamkos or Tavares for example. This was corrected with McDavid who will only compliment a solid core of forwards that the Oilers boast. The problem with the Oilers has been depth and their inability to draft outside of the first round and not being a particularly great destination for free agents. Now there are still a lot of question marks with this team, while improved I’m still not a huge fan of the Oilers defence and I’m curious what Cam Talbot will look like behind them since he is used to playing behind a far superior defence in New York. Is Draisaitl NHL ready enough to give the league its best 1-2-3 punch down the middle since Crosby, Malkin and Staal? Can Nugent-Hopkins for that matter be a number 1 centre in this league… at least for the short term? There have been questions about the culture in Edmonton being that of a Culture of losing. Todd McLellan is coming from a team with rumored “culture issues”, can he right the ship behind the bench in Edmonton? Make no mistakes this is a much improved team from last year I just don’t think it’s going to be enough to slide into the playoffs this year as the pain isn’t quite over yet but going forward they should grow to be not just a playoff threat but a cup threat as well.
Projected Lines:
Pouliot – Nugent-Hopkins – Eberle
Hall – McDavid – Yakupov
Lander – Draisaitl – Purcell
Hendricks – Letestu – Kopikoski
Sekera – Schultz
Klefbom – Fayne
Ference – Reinhart
Talbot
Scrivens
Circle Your 2015-16 Calendar:
Sharks @ Oilers – Wednesday Dec. 9th, 2015
Oilers @ Sharks – Thursday Jan. 14th, 2016
Sharks @ Oilers – Tuesday Mar. 8th, 2016
Oilers @ Sharks – Thursday Mar. 24th, 2016
Projected Pacific Division Standings:
1) Anaheim Ducks
2) Calgary Flames
3) San Jose Sharks
4) ??????????
5) Edmonton Oilers
6) ??????????
7) Arizona Coyotes
Don’t forget to check out the Teal Tinted Glasses Podcast!
