The no-Slats era in Edmonton has arrived.
Even without the cigar-chomping managerial maestro Glen Sather around to oversee proceedings, the Oilers will doubtless remain the same sort of team he built – fast, flashy and puck-pressuring.
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Wed., Sept. 27
Veteran leadership is the key for Edmonton. They're a good club, which made the playoffs last year. Getting Doug Weight signed for another year was very important. Now Weight and Bill Guerin have to shoulder the burden of leading this team. When Guerin struggled last year, the team struggled. He's a guy they're counting on for 40 goals. Tommy Salo gave them some good goaltending last year, but he needs to be a little better this year.
The loss of Roman Hamrlik on defense hurts, but the Oilers' stars are capable of leading them to the playoffs. |
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Incoming GM Kevin Lowe, after all, studied the Sather blueprint for an awful lot of years, first as a linchpin defenseman and then coach. And after the initial shock of his leaving – although it seemed pretty cut-and-dried for a while – the city of Edmonton has put nostalgia aside to look ahead.
Instead of pining for the man who shaped five Stanley Cup winners through a decade, Oiler fans are, by all accounts, warming to a new sense of enthusiasm and freshness triggered by the changes at the top.
In Lowe and first-year head coach Craig MacTavish, the Oilers turned to two of its old guard to resurrect past glories.
Given the economic climate of the league at the moment, that's a virtual impossibility. And, quite frankly, it's about time the Oil delivered on some of this gilt-edged potential we've been writing about the past few years.
There's really not much change within the structure of the on-ice product for the coming season. Edmonton will still depend mightily on its dynamite No. 1 line in Doug Weight, Ryan Smyth and Bill Guerin. Trouble is, that puts three of your top four scorers on one unit and virtually all of your eggs in one basket. There's really not a lot after that.
In Janne Niinimaa, Tom Poti and Jason Smith, the Oilers are blessed with three fine, young defenseman. Poti, in particular, blossomed last season with 35 points. That total should increase dramatically this year. But while in those three players there is an abundance of poise and playmaking ability, Edmonton sorely lacks a big, strong, nasty backbreaker capable of keeping goalie Tommy Salo's crease spotless.
MacTavish can only hope Salo is as dependable in his second season wearing the colors as in 1999-2000. Salo, released from the Islanders circus, was only No. 4 among goalies in games played (70), No. 10 in GAA (2.33), No. 9 in save percentage (.914) and second in minutes played (1,875). He'll have to be even better this year, with no proven back-up to spell him.
So as Tommy goes, so goes this team.
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Bottom Line on the Oilers
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Janne Niinimaa, Tom Poti and Tommy Salo
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Back-up goalie
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Speed and tenaciousness
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Depth up front
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Smyth-Guerin-Weight line
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Toughness on the blueline
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SEASON OUTLOOK: Much like last year. Weight, Smyth, Poti, Niinimaa and Salo all had fine seasons, yet the Oilers snuck in the playoffs and lasted just a round. You wonder if perhaps, as a group, they haven't just about reached their level. It's up to them to show differently. |
George Johnson covers the NHL for the Calgary Herald. His NHL National column appears every week during the season on ESPN.com.
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