From July 16-Aug 16, we’ll be profiling all 30 NHL teams by recapping what they did this offseason and previewing their upcoming campaigns.
2011-12 season
32-40-10, 74 points. 14th in Western Conference, fifth in Northwest Division.
Additions
Justin Schultz, Nail Yakupov
Departures
Cam Barker, Ryan Keller, Taylor Chorney
2012 Draft
First overall -- Nail Yakupov (F - Sarnia - OHL)
Looking back
It was yet another miserable season for the Oilers. While there were glimmers of hope for the future thrown in with how well Jordan Eberle played (34 goals, 76 points), they saw Taylor Hall again run into injury problems missing 21 games and rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins too missed 20 games. Those two fellow youngsters played great hockey, but it doesn’t do them any good being hurt.
While the slew of youngsters played great, the same issues that plagued Edmonton for the last few years remained. Defensively they were brutal ranking 23rd in goals allowed. Devan Dubnyk showed hope that he could be their goalie of the future but still split time with Nikolai Khabibulin. The defense had no real leaders nor anyone all that great.
Being unhealthy and unable to keep opponents off the scoreboard help you land in a position to get the first overall pick in the draft for the third year in a row.
Looking forward
The Oilers managed to get younger in the offseason. While they haven’t splurged in free agency, signing former Ducks pick Justin Schultz as a free agent and then picking Yakupov first overall helped the Oilers add a lot of very young talent quickly. Schultz will give them a young potential stud on the blue line while Yakupov figures to be another possible superstar forward. Edmonton is really gunning hard to recreate the dynasty years.
They’ll have to hope Schultz can live up to the hype right away and steady a defensive corps that’s been nothing short of awful in recent seasons. If they can have that happen and see Dubnyk continue to improve his game maybe things get better in Edmonton and maybe they can push for eighth in the West.
That said, the team is still terribly thin at forward with lots of other young guys (Linus Omark, Magnus Paajarvi) unsure of where they stand with the team and others (Sam Gagner, Ryan Jones) still figuring what exactly their game is. Factor in a handful of veterans like Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth and... You still don’t know what you have.
There’s hope here, there’s too much young talent around not to, but there are a lot of questions surrounding this team.
Have your say
Vote in our poll and let us know what you think of the Oilers’ 2012-13 outlook in the comments section.
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