Teddy Purcell plans more shots on net
Purcell looks to augment abilities of team’s ‘high-end skill guys’
Teddy Purcell has come full circle after being traded to the Edmonton Oilers, seven years after his first NHL game at Rexall Place.
He was a deer in the headlights back then.
“I got called up from (Los Angeles AHL farm team) Manchester, was in the airport all day, got delayed and didn’t get to Edmonton until about one o’clock the night before. I didn’t know if I’d even play, but first shift I got a two-onone with Rob Blake. It was all a blur,” said Purcell, who was acquired June 29 from the Tampa Bay Lightning, in a three-way deal that included the Arizona Coyotes, who landed centre Sam Gagner from Edmonton. “Even as I look back, I’m still nervous. Where did the puck go? I passed it to Blake, but off his skate. Looking back, I should have shot.”
Purcell said he got yelled at a lot for not firing the puck more often — he recorded 156 shots in 80 games last season — “but there are lots of guys here who can make plays, so I’ll shoot more.”
For the record, Purcell has taken 776 shots in 400 career NHL games — he’s no Taylor Hall, for example, who has fired 797 in 246 games.
Think Ales Hemsky, only bigger.
Purcell is in town with freeagent signees Benoit Pouliot, Mark Fayne and Keith Aulie getting the lay of the land here. The group had dinner with Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish and the coaching staff Monday night, went to the rink Tuesday morning, looked at some housing properties and may fit in a round of golf.
Purcell will be either the second- or third-line rightwinger, depending on where Nail Yakupov is slotted.
“I spoke to Dallas (coach Eakins) the day I got traded, and from what he says, he’ll give me lots of opportunities,” said Purcell, who was also on the power play in Tampa.
He could fill the Hemsky role here, on the boards, dishing the puck.
“I was pretty fortunate to play with some high-end guys in Tampa (Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis). I tried to fit in where they weren’t and I think it’ll be similar here with lots of high-end skill guys. Wherever they put me, I’ll embrace it and run with it. I was on the half-wall downlow in Tampa.”
Stay-at-home Fayne likes the big West
Mark Fayne is a puck-possession player — good, safe first-pass — but nobody should count on the 27-yearold defenceman to rack up points.
Think a younger Rob Scuderi — a calm presence with the puck on his stick, able to play against offensive players without being overwhelmed by the assignment.
Somewhere in the top four on defence,
“Andy (Greene) and I usually played against the other team’s top line (in New Jersey) and they didn’t expect too much from us offensively. Eating up minutes against the top guys,” he said. “It’s a definite challenge but it keeps you on your toes.”
The East has smaller, slicker forwards. The West is bigger, much heavier. Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, Joe Thornton, David Backes, Jonathan Toews.
“The tougher thing for me is playing against the smaller, fast guys, but I’m actually looking forward to the West. My style and build (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) might be better against the bigger guys,” said Fayne, a newbie when it comes to playing in Canada — and anywhere in western North America. He’s been an Eastern kid all his life, growing up in New Hampshire, playing college at Providence, R.I., then in New Jersey.
“I haven’t left the East Coast much in my life and had to think about it (signing here),” said Fayne, who knows the Oilers’ history of missing the playoffs eight years in a row but wasn’t deterred by where they are geographically or statistically. “I think the rebuild’s pretty far along, especially with some of the guys they’ve brought in this summer. It’s not in the beginning stage.”
Expect Pouliot to be in the corners
Benoit Pouliot had 10 points (plus eight) for the Rangers in their run to the Stanley Cup final, but there was no money in the cupboard to resign him. He had a collection of suitors, though — one team offered a six-year deal, one more than the Oilers signed him for (five at $20 million).
He’s back in the West after starting his NHL career with the Minnesota Wild.
Pouliot played for former University of Alberta Golden Bears coach Rob Daum with the Wild’s American Hockey League affiliate as a centre, not a winger.
He’ll almost surely be the third-line left-winger behind Hall and David Perron here — a big, in-the-corners guy — and he could be as portable as Perron was last year.
“I consider myself a top-nine forward now. The past three years have been really positive. My game is better (more consistent play). In Tampa and in Boston before New York, I was third line, second line. Different roles on the second and third lines, maybe, but you get used to it and you do the job.”
One of his biggest plays in the final was stealing the puck off Drew Doughty for a breakaway goal. He averaged 15:42 minutes on a third line.
“I really enjoyed New York, but when it comes down to free-agency, some teams have money, some don’t,” he said.
Pouliot says he did talk to New York Rangers GM Glen Sather about coming here, after the fact. “Glen called, left a message and said ‘goodluck, you’ll enjoy it.’ He said it was a good place to be. Coming from Glen, that was big. He’s a great man and treated me very well,” Pouliot said.
Playing in a Canadian hockey-mad city will be a change, but a welcome one to Pouliot.
Quick signing shocks new defenceman
Keith Aulie, who was signed for a bargain $800,000, has a leg up, at worst, on the No. 7 job on the Oilers blue-line.
But the 6-foot-6, 228-pounder is aiming higher.
“I’d like to be a top four defenceman,” said Aulie, who was plagued by injuries and who fell out of favour in Tampa.
The Lightning didn’t send the restricted free-agent a qualifying offer. They liked 6-foot-8 Czech Andrej Sustr more.
“I’m a shutdown type Dman, playing from my end out, playing a safe game, killing penalties,” said Aulie, who concedes he was surprised he was signed on the first day of free agency. “I thought the big dogs would go and I might have to wait until the second or third day. This is a young group here that desperately wants to win. There’s nowhere to go but up. The new guys want to make a positive impact.”
Expect a celebration of original ’84 team
There’s a good chance the 1984 Stanley Cup champion Oilers squad, the first of their five Cup teams, will be saluted here sometime this season on the 30th anniversary of the championship.
Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr have had their numbers retired and have been honoured, but it will be nice to see unsung Cup helpers such as Willy Lindstrom, Pat Conacher, Pat Hughes, Don Jackson and Jaroslav Pouzar — who no longer live in Edmonton — at a celebratory weekend or a game.
Kevin Lowe, Lee Fogolin, Dave Hunter, Randy Gregg and Dave Lumley have lived here for years.