The Edmonton Oilers won?t be at their best tonight when they play the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena. Winger Jordan Eberle, their leading scorer, and center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, their second-leading scorer and the NHL?s top rookie, are out because of injuries, as are half of their top six defensemen.
But the Oilers bear watching for Blue Jackets fans.
If the Jackets decide after this mind-numbing season to blow up the roster and start over, the Oilers ? like the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins before them during the past eight seasons ? are a good example of what Columbus? club could look like two or three years into the process.
?They have some great young players who, in a few years, are going to be dominant players in this league,? Blue Jackets interim coach Todd Richards said. ?They?re already getting close to that point. They have some veteran players who know how to play and do things the right way.
?We?re expecting their best. Edmonton can embarrass you if you?re not ready to play, if you?re not committed to doing certain things.?
Since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006, the Oilers went four seasons without qualifying for the playoffs before deciding ? at about this point during the 2009-10 season ? that it was time to stop patching holes on a leaky ship.
The Oilers traded spare parts and hit rock bottom, earning the No. 1 overall pick in each of the past two drafts. That?s how they acquired Taylor Hall, 20, and Nugent-Hopkins, 18, who have been dynamic enough on a line with Eberle to draw comparisons with the Oilers of the 1980s.
?It wasn?t a tough sell here,? reporter Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal said. ?Fans in Edmonton have actually won with young players. This is how they did it the first time, how they won the Stanley Cups.
?It?s a long, arduous process. They?re going to finish in the bottom three again this year, probably. But there are nights when you can see how special the three (forwards) are. What they haven?t got yet are the two special defensemen and a goalie. Those are the last pieces for them to get.?
The Oilers have shown all the tendencies of a young club. They are a league-worst 4-8-4 in one-goal games. They are 6-16-1 on the road. Since a 9-3-2 start to the season, they?re 8-20-2, in a freefall amid the slew of injuries.
The process continues, though. The Oilers are expected to trade top-six winger Ales Hemsky at the trade deadline, and they?ll be picking high in the draft yet again. It took the Penguins and Blackhawks about three seasons to become playoff threats.
?What you need are six to seven core players,? Matheson said. ?You have to get the high first-round picks and a whole pile of second-round picks, and you have to turn them into something.?
The Blue Jackets have never been in a better position to facilitate a rebuild than they are today. They are last in the NHL standings, eight points out of 29th.
Though nobody with the Jackets has indicated a desire to make radical changes, there?s an understanding that turbulent times might lie ahead.
?It?s frustrating that our team has come to the point where it?s possible,? winger R.J. Umberger said. ?In this league, you have to win games. If you don?t, there are changes, and it started with our coach already. I think we all expect there will probably be more.?
But the Oilers bear watching for Blue Jackets fans.
If the Jackets decide after this mind-numbing season to blow up the roster and start over, the Oilers ? like the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins before them during the past eight seasons ? are a good example of what Columbus? club could look like two or three years into the process.
?They have some great young players who, in a few years, are going to be dominant players in this league,? Blue Jackets interim coach Todd Richards said. ?They?re already getting close to that point. They have some veteran players who know how to play and do things the right way.
?We?re expecting their best. Edmonton can embarrass you if you?re not ready to play, if you?re not committed to doing certain things.?
Since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006, the Oilers went four seasons without qualifying for the playoffs before deciding ? at about this point during the 2009-10 season ? that it was time to stop patching holes on a leaky ship.
The Oilers traded spare parts and hit rock bottom, earning the No. 1 overall pick in each of the past two drafts. That?s how they acquired Taylor Hall, 20, and Nugent-Hopkins, 18, who have been dynamic enough on a line with Eberle to draw comparisons with the Oilers of the 1980s.
?It wasn?t a tough sell here,? reporter Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal said. ?Fans in Edmonton have actually won with young players. This is how they did it the first time, how they won the Stanley Cups.
?It?s a long, arduous process. They?re going to finish in the bottom three again this year, probably. But there are nights when you can see how special the three (forwards) are. What they haven?t got yet are the two special defensemen and a goalie. Those are the last pieces for them to get.?
The Oilers have shown all the tendencies of a young club. They are a league-worst 4-8-4 in one-goal games. They are 6-16-1 on the road. Since a 9-3-2 start to the season, they?re 8-20-2, in a freefall amid the slew of injuries.
The process continues, though. The Oilers are expected to trade top-six winger Ales Hemsky at the trade deadline, and they?ll be picking high in the draft yet again. It took the Penguins and Blackhawks about three seasons to become playoff threats.
?What you need are six to seven core players,? Matheson said. ?You have to get the high first-round picks and a whole pile of second-round picks, and you have to turn them into something.?
The Blue Jackets have never been in a better position to facilitate a rebuild than they are today. They are last in the NHL standings, eight points out of 29th.
Though nobody with the Jackets has indicated a desire to make radical changes, there?s an understanding that turbulent times might lie ahead.
?It?s frustrating that our team has come to the point where it?s possible,? winger R.J. Umberger said. ?In this league, you have to win games. If you don?t, there are changes, and it started with our coach already. I think we all expect there will probably be more.?
