McDavid must carry the Oilers
Lack of cap space limited what Edmonton could do to improve roster Connor McDavid had a career-high 41 goals last season and believes he can score more.
Here’s good news for Edmonton Oiler fans who probably could use some after their team dropped well below expectations last season and failed to make the playoffs. Connor McDavid wants to score more goals.
“I just want to continue on the growth we’re on,” McDavid said Monday at the BioSteel hockey camp in Toronto, where a mix of stars from professional and junior hockey are getting in a final tune-up before team camps open next month.
“There’s always ways to improve your game. I’ve always said I want to score more, find ways to score more. It’s great to go out and make plays, but there’s a knack to putting the puck in the net … I was able to find a bit of that at the end of last year. So I want to try and find that again.”
The Oilers need a lot more to go right than the best player in the NHL upping his already stellar goal game. They still must shore up defensively and get bounceback seasons from several players. But they have McDavid, who is worth the price of a ticket on his own and who has shown an ability to get better throughout his entire hockey career, amateur and pro.
“Everyone (on the Oilers is) motivated, everyone’s worked hard over the summer, it’s time to show it,” McDavid said.
McDavid continued to prove himself, even as his team slipped badly. He won the scoring title for a second straight season, finishing with career highs in goals (41) and points (108). Incredibly, 35 of those goals came at even strength. Still, the Oilers dropped from 47 wins in 2016-17 to 36 in 201718.
That, fans thought, was the impetus management needed to improve the roster. And while Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli signed four new players — forwards Kyle Brodziak and Tobias Rieder, defenceman Kevin Gravel and goaltender Mikko Koskinen — the additions were seen as replacements for players lost at the trade deadline last February than actual improvements.
Chiarelli’s biggest enemy was cap space: He entered the summer with just under $4 million worth of room to operate, and arguably did well with the play- ers he brought in. He also has all-star defenceman Darnell Nurse waiting for a new contract.
Nurse said Monday he’d be happy with a long-term deal or a bridge deal to his next contract.
Chiarelli also invited classy veteran Scottie Upshall to training camp on a professional tryout offer.
The GM told reporters over the summer there was no way to rebuild in one fell swoop. So the Oilers will have to rely largely on players developing and rebounding from last season.
Three new assistants — former Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan, Trent Yawney, and Manny Viveiros — should help with the development, but their impact on Todd McLellan’s staff won’t be known for some time.
McDavid will soldier on. His new contract last summer made him one of the highest paid players in the game and he is not about to blemish his reputation — he has been voted by his peers as the league’s best player two years running — by complaining about his team’s roster.
“It’s great, keeping everyone together,” McDavid said, when asked if the Oilers did enough to improve upon their non-playoff finish.
“You don’t want them to blow things up. There were some moves to be made, but overall, keeping everyone together, I think everyone likes that.
“So, get back to where we were a couple of years ago. Everyone wants that.”