The Edmonton Oilers made some bold decisions in their quest to return to Stanley Cup glory.
Their season opener at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday is the first chance to see whether those moves will pay dividends.
After consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final in the previous two seasons — which ended with losses to the Florida Panthers — the Oilers were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the playoffs last season In turn, they hired coach Mike Babcock, a decision that drew scrutiny given the controversial ends to his stints in Toronto and Columbus.
Babcock, who guided the Detroit Red Wings to the 2008 championship, replaced the fired Kris Knoblauch.
The team’s key players were on board with the coaching decision and continue to say they believe it will help them achieve their goal.
“Babs is taking everything. He’s OK with it,” forward Zach Hyman said. “The players can just go out and play. … There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of positivity here. Nothing but good is happening.”
The Oilers believe they are ready to return to the top. Led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, they are an offensive powerhouse, so the offseason was spent retooling the defense corps and goaltending.
In goal, they added the currently injured Frederik Andersen and Devon Levi, with Tristan Jarry set to start the opener.
On defense, Darnell Nurse was traded away, and Ryan Shea and Shakir Mukhamadullin were added.
The Oilers hope Babcock’s defensive structure better positions them to compete for the Stanley Cup. In the preseason, Edmonton posted a 4-0-0 record and surrendered only five goals.
“We have three pairs, almost eight ‘D’ that all can play,” veteran Mattias Ekholm said. “That’s a really good problem for us to have.”
The Canucks also went through a litany of offseason changes, but for a different reason.
After finishing at the bottom of the league standings last season, Vancouver is in a full-scale rebuild that went all the way through the management.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin have taken the reins as co-presidents of hockey operations, Ryan Johnson is the new general manager and Manny Malhotra was handed the coaching job after Adam Foote was fired.
As the Canucks try to integrate more youth into the lineup, they decided to add veterans like Brendan Gallagher, Luke Schenn and Jamie Oleksiak to provide guidance.
A playoff berth will be a tall order, but an improved atmosphere and stability are the first steps for a team that has gone through too much upheaval and chaos on and off the ice.
“Last year was last year. Now it’s over. It’s a new year,” forward Marco Rossi said. “We are all really excited, we have a good energy in our group. Everyone’s positive, so we’re all excited.”
The Canucks, who will play host to the Oilers on Thursday in the second half of the home-and-home series, do have their roster holes, but they are not without talent.
With Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk, they still have proven offensive talent, and second-year defenseman Zeev Buium is a possible rising star.
Vancouver will begin the season without goaltender Thatcher Demko, who underwent hip surgery in January and has no timetable for his return. Kevin Lankinen will serve as the starter between the pipes.
The plan will be to build a winning attitude.
“I think with the good coaching we have now and the standards we’re trying to build, I think we just build on that, and we’ll see what happens,” Pettersson said.
