Scouting Reports main page | Division Rankings
Edmonton Oilers
Overall: 14
Northwest Division: 2
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| Hamrlik shows he's more than just a shooter. (David E. Klutho) |
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Say
this
for the 1998-99 Oilers: They have
strength in numbers. Where once there was merely miserly
Peter Pocklington letting his crop's cream slip away, now
there are nearly three dozen owners overseeing the player
exodus from Edmonton. Where once there was Curtis Joseph, a
prized goaltender
lost to free agency, now there are journeymen Bob Essensa and
Mikhail
Shtalenkov, a tandem that
couldn't stop what Joseph can if they played in net at the
same time. Where once there was gifted, upbeat center Doug
Weight to talk up the team's chances
during training camp, now there are as many as five first-line
wannabes vying for the team's
No. 1 center position. At week's end Weight was an unsigned
restricted free agent.
Weight is the only NHL player to lead the same team in
scoring for each of the last five seasons. These days
Edmonton waits for Weight, mainly because the team has
multiple slumping forwards. Ryan Smyth fell from 39 goals
in '96-97 to 20 last season,
Andrei Kovalenko from 32 to six, Mike Grier from 15 to nine.
At least Kovalenko, who may have led the league in shots on
glass, said he had brought "a new brain" with him
to
camp.
The bright spot is a surplus of slick defensemen. Edmonton
was the only team with three backliners (Roman Hamrlik,
Boris Mironov and Janne Niinimaa) among its top five
scorers, and rookie Tom Poti is also a capable rusher.
Despite the team's abandon and
the league's
late-season crackdown on obstruction, the NHL's speediest club
scored just five goals in five games during its
second-round playoff loss to the Stars. That allowed the
Oilers to master another group activity in the
off-season:
self-flagellation. "This club isn't at a rookie stage
anymore," said coach Ron Low. "We have a bunch of
veteran players. We're supposed to be grown up." Added
forward Mats Lindgren, who had only two points in 12
playoff games, "I've played two full years. It's
about time I do something here."
Many Oilers could say the same
thing.
—By Brian Cazeneuve
Fast Fact
The Oilers led the NHL with an astounding 2,527 hits last
season (653 more than the
No. 2 Red Wings), yet they were only 10th in the league in
penalty
minutes.
Keys To Success
- Either journeyman Bob Essensa or perennial backup Mikhail
Shtalenkov must emerge as a No. 1 netminder to offset the loss of
free-agent Curtis Joseph.
- The Oilers' penalty-killing unit, which finished 22nd in the league
last season, needs to improve dramatically.
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