NHL SEASON PREVIEW
Oilers ignore Cup favourite talk
It’s not the weight of the world, just a city — and perhaps a large part of the country — resting on the shoulders of the Edmonton Oilers this season.
And what they do with that weight, either buckle beneath it, lift it over their heads in the spring, or something in between, is going to make for some fascinating viewing.
For the first time in a good 30 years, the Oilers enter a season as one of the favourites to win the Stanley Cup. According to Las Vegas and most of the hockey pundits in North America, they’re the best bet in the Western Conference and the highest-ranked team in Canada.
That’s a lot to digest for a team that’s won exactly one playoff round in the last 11 years, so the Oilers say they’re not even going to chew on it.
“I don’t think we listen to the outside very much,” said centre Leon Draisaitl, echoing the sentiments of the dressing room.
“We know we have a good team, for us it’s just a matter of going out there and proving it, showing the hockey world that last year was not a one-time thing, that we can repeat it.”
Expectations this high aren’t always easy for a young team to manage, so the Oilers find themselves doing a balancing act; believing they’re good enough to be in the Cup final while disregarding everyone else telling them they’re good enough to be in the Cup final.
“You have to have swagger going into the season,” said winger Patrick Maroon, who’s hoping to maintain a pace that saw him double his career high in goals last year (27). “We have to know what we’re capable of and how we can handle situations. But we can’t focus on playoffs or being Cup contenders, we have to focus on the day-to-day life.
“We have to find ways to win hockey games. We have to stay focused, not listen to the media.”
But the honest question many would like answered is: To what degree are those odds and expectations true?
“We don’t really talk about that,” goaltender Cam Talbot said on the eve of Edmonton’s home opener Wednesday (8 p.m., Sportsnet, 630 CHED) against the Calgary Flames. “We haven’t even played
We can’t focus on playoffs or being Cup contenders, we have to focus on the day-to-day life.
one game yet. Obviously, those odds have to be made at some point, but that’s not something we address.
“But we all believe in each other. We believe in this group, if that’s what you’re asking. This is a confident group coming in here, and we know the expectations are higher. No one wants to perform better than the guys in the room. We want to go out there, take it game by game, and prove that we belong.”
Head coach Todd McLellan has been in this boat many times before with the San Jose Sharks, and he knows better than anyone not to count your champagne before it’s popped. It’s a message he’s been conveying since the first day they came together for camp.
“If you’re one of the teams the experts have picked to have a chance, it means you’ve done a pretty good job as an organization, assembling the group, creating an identity and working toward that goal. You have some pieces in place that can get the job done,” he said. “But that all happens on paper. The tough part is that you have to come and play every night, and you have to remember how hard it was to win the year prior.”
And you have to be able to deal with stormy weather. If the head that wears the crown is uneasy, imagine the head that’s supposed to wear the crown after missing the playoffs for 10 years straight. When this team hits a rough patch, and it will, how it copes and recovers will reveal much about them.
“You have to believe it will be tougher this year because people will be expecting a bit more from you, not only the opposition, but fans, media, teammates and coaches,” said McLellan.
“It becomes a tough thing at times. What I’ll be interested to see from our team is when we have some rough water that we need to get through.
“What separates the teams that really get there from the ones that don’t quite get there is how they handle it. We haven’t experienced it yet.”
Draisaitl isn’t concerned about the Oilers’ mental state, or that McLellan will need to bring them down to earth or protect them from the dangers of overconfidence. They’re cool.
“It’s pretty easy because we feel the same way. We’re not satisfied either,” he said.
“We want to take the next step and be an even better team than last year. He’s an experienced coach, he finds the right words to get to us, but within the group, we know we have more to give.”