Oilers defencemen eager to rebound this season
They put them all on Team B in training camp.
The Edmonton Oilers in need of big bounce-back seasons found themselves together wearing blue against Connor McDavid’s guys wearing white Saturday.
It was the Oilers’ 40th anniversary Fan Day with alumni including Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson on the concourse signing autographs at training camp.
On the ice for the scrimmage before about 3,000 fans were Milan Lucic, Zack Kassian, Cam Talbot, Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson, all on the B Team.
If they all bounce back, happy times should be here again.
If there are two who you should bet on doing that, they’re the top-pairing Swedish defencemen, Larsson and Klefbom.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a pair of players in any NHL camp as invigorated and enthused to reboot and start a season from scratch than those two.
Larsson’s 50-year-old father Robert died on a visit to Edmonton in late January and the player general manager Peter Chiarelli traded Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall for left the club twice —once to fly back to Sweden and mourn with his family and again to attend the funeral.
“Obviously, last year, in every single way, was not a fun year for me,” Larsson said of the season that also included injury time on the front end of the schedule.
“It’s good for me to be back around the boys and city. For me it’s a fresh new start,” said the 25-year-old.
“I don’t know if I can put words to last year. Personally, it was devastating. It was something I hope I can grow from, something I had to deal with every single day.
“Hockey is good therapy for me. Being around the boys and being around the rink kind of keeps your mind off it.
“I had some injuries. After Christmas, I wasn’t playing for two weeks and then everything happened. I went back and forth over to Europe. I almost don’t remember what happened after that.
“It was just tough. It was just a tough year overall.”
Larsson is rediscovering the joy of hockey.
“It’s already fun this year. And this group is hungry again this year.”
He’s also looking forward to playing with the real Klefbom.
“My body just wasn’t right last year and Oscar was dealing with some tough injuries, too. So there’s a fresh start for both of us, mentally and physically.
“I enjoy playing with Oscar. We know we can play well together and I think now that our bodies and minds are fresh, we have a chance to do something good here.”
Klefbom has been battling back from a shoulder injury and needed a healthy dose of antiinflammatory drugs from Christmas on. He missed eight games and returned to the flailing and failing defence playing hurt and sore before the Oilers finally shut him down for the final 10 games.
“It was kind of tough because I wanted to help the guys out,” Klefbom said.
“I didn’t want to call it a season. But you have to be smart if you’re not able to help the guys. You should be honest to yourself and the players. You should probably let other guys do the job. It was a very tough situation both mentally and physically.”
Klefbom went from being a plus-7 to a minus-12 player, from 12 goals to five and from 38 points to 21.
But it’s a new year and Klefbom is 100 per cent healthy. You could see it Saturday as fans watched him score a goal and move into the play with confidence.
“It feels really good to be out there and be able to join the rush a bit and be involved in the offence,” the 25-year-old said.
“I’m just enjoying being on the ice again.”
With bounce back boys Larsson and Klefbom, the B team looked just as good as the A team.