Oilers use the pre-season to build some momentum
Team wants to make winning a habit early after what happened last year
The Edmonton Oilers understand that the pre-season doesn’t count, but don’t tell them it doesn’t matter.
They make no bones about the fact they pushed hard for that 4-1 record and are proud of the fact they ’ve outscored their opposition 27-14 in those games.
Exhibition or not, they aren’t going through the motions, they’re going for the wins.
That’s not typical in a league where pre-season is considered a necessary evil and veterans often save it for opening night, but after starting 3-7-1 last season and never recovering, they are investing heavily in forward momentum heading into Oct. 6 in Sweden.
“After the season we had last year, we want to go into this one feeling the best we can,” said defenceman Adam Larsson, adding everyone bought in from the first day of medicals.
“We all know it’s pre-season but we don’t want to lose. It shows that this group is hungry and it’s the disappointment from last year that drives that hunger. That’s a good thing. You can tell the group realized what went wrong last year.”
People can roll their eyes and dismiss training camp accomplishments all they want, but for a team in search of redemption and placing massive importance on the start, creating a winning, confident swagger is vital.
“I know it’s exhibition and the points don’t count,” said training camp scoring sensation Ty Rattie. “But those wins do matter in here. We want to get off to a good start.”
It even shows in practice. In a power play/penalty killing competition Wednesday morning (losers had to bag skate), the Oilers went at it hard, battling, blocking shots and celebrating goals like they meant something.
Because they do.
“I don’t think we had that intensity last year necessarily, not as much,” said Leon Draisaitl. “We’re a very determined group right now. We have something to prove to ourselves that last year was not the team that we are.
“So far it’s been very positive. Hopefully, we can transfer this into the regular season.”
Teams always tell themselves that pre-season is important, but most of the time it’s lip service and it shows in their play. But Connor McDavid has been leading the pre-season charge on and off the ice, putting up seven points in two games and continually stressing the importance of playing and practising like you mean it.
Although nobody who was here last season needs to be reminded what happens when you take your lot in the league for granted.
“At this point there isn’t much that needs to be said,” said Larsson. “If you look at all the fitness testing, everyone came prepared this year and so far in the games everyone came prepared to work. It’s been really good, intense, so far.
“Practice is definitely more intense than it has been in the past.”
Wednesday’s special teams showdown certainly was, with the second power-play unit upsetting the first power-play unit in a competition that was much more spirited than anyone would expect at a 9:30 a.m. practice the morning after a 6-0 win.
“We tried to get a little more of that out of them today by competing against each other and having something to play for,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “The guys brought the energy. It was a good day to do it because of the 9:30 skate. We could have slept through it but I thought we got something out of practice.”
“That’s a little bit of the spirit our team has brought this year,” added Ryan Strome. “A lot of competitiveness in practice.”
Is all this going to matter on Oct. 6 and beyond? Who knows? The world is full of teams that had great pre-seasons and then faltered when everybody else started to dig in.
But, as Draisaitl put it, if everyone is playing well and feeling confident and the team is winning, how can it possibly hurt?
“If you feel good, if your linemates are feeling good and the team is winning, it can only help going into the regular season,” said Draisaitl. “We’re going to keep this going until there are points on the line and then make sure we find another step.”