The Pipeline
Main
News
Sign Guestbook
View Guestbook
Poll
Message Board
Links
FAQ/Help
E-mail me
Trivia
Monthly Questions
Previous Answers
Leaders
Rules
Oilers
Wyatt's Word
Oilers Central
Recent Game
Standings
Newsroom
Oiler Kills
Pictures
Scoring History
|
Wyatt's Word
Thoughts on the Oilers
September 17, 2000
By Dan Wyatt
As training camp gets going it’s great to see the boys back on the ice. What’s especially exciting about this season is besides Ryan Smyth I do not have to do the additions and subtractions of my lineup taking holdouts into account. Yes, it’s nice to see some new blood leading the Oilers in the new millennium.
Positives
The Oilers have a solid core of good young players who are coming into their own. The checking line of Marchant, Moreau, and Grier is among the best in the NHL. Not only do these guys shut down the opposition but they contribute offensively as well. Weight and Guerin should be better than last year. Guerin is playing for a new contract and will be here through all of camp and Weight seemed to finally be over the knee injury with his inspired play during stretch run and the playoffs against Dallas. Rem Murray and Chad Kilger will be better this season and new additions Josh Green and Dan Cleary are expected to contribute as well.
Besides a brief stint under George Burnett, the Oilers have always been well coached. However, this year I feel even more confident than ever about the coaching staff. MacTavish is an excellent hockey man and he’s surrounded himself with good assistants in Billy Moores and Charlie Huddy.
Tommy Salo played outstanding last season. He was consistent, confident, and proved he could handle a large workload. This guy seems to have found a home and I’m hoping the Oilers will lock him up to a long-term contract during the season.
Concerns
Over the past 2 seasons, the Oilers have traded 2 excellent defensemen. Losing Boris Mironov and Roman Hamrlik may prove costly in the long run for the Oilers. Tom Poti and Janne Ninimaa are improving each season yet it’s never easy to replace the players who were traded. After the 3rd defensemen Jason Smith, the blueline is very thin. It’s a must that youngsters Eric Brewer or Sean Brown step up and show their potential.
Can we replace the 27 goals of Alex Selivanov? Although Selivanov was erratic throughout the season, he was second on the team in goal scoring. Once again, the Oilers will be counting on youngsters to take the stage. Green and Cleary are new comers who could make us forget about Seli yet neither has proven anything at the NHL level.
In 1996 the Oilers made one of their best moves that helped its release from the doldrums of the NHL. They signed Bob Essensa to back up Curtis Joseph. Essensa gave the Oilers solid back up goaltending that they had been missing in years past. This season the Oilers are counting on Jaquoin Gage or Eric “the playboy” Heffler to take over for the retired Bill Ranford. Kevin Lowe better shake his head if he plans on entering the season with either of them cause they are not capable backups. I thought Salo played a little bit too much last year and looked tired towards the end of the Dallas season. Signing a new backup goaltender should be top priority.
Outlook
I’m going to wait till next month where I see how the team shakes down. Sorry to leave everyone hanging!
Dan Wyatt can be visited at Dan's Homepage
Agree? Disagree? Talk about it on the message board
|