Edmonton Oilers: Top 10 moments from 2015

Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Number ten: Laurent Brossoit Debut

On April 9th, 2015, The Edmonton Oilers lost 3-1 against the San Jose Sharks. It was one of many losses for the Edmonton Oilers pitiful 2014-15 season where very little went right.

However, on this night, there was one helluva bright spot: Laurent Brossoit made his NHL debut and boy did he ever shine in this loss: he stopped 51 of 53 shots that he faced.

In fact, he faced the highest quality of shots of any Edmonton Oilers goalie since 2011-12.

Rewind a little bit here: Laurent Brossoit was a former Edmonton Oil King, who was drafted by the rival Calgary Flames in the sixth round, 164th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Brossoit was famously traded with Roman Horak on November 8th 2013 for defenceman Ladislav Smid in a rare trade between the two teams.

Not many goalies start their NHL careers facing that many shots. It was one for the ages and a bright spot in a really bad season for the Oilers.

Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Number Nine: The Oilers trade David Perron

On January 2nd, the Edmonton Oilers traded winger David Perron to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2015 first round draft pick and Rob Klinkhammer.

Now, rewind here. David Perron was one of then General Manager, Craig MacTavish, best acquisitions as the Edmonton Oilers traded Magnus Paajarvi and a second round pick for the scrappy winger in the summer of 2013.

Perron would only last a season and a half in Edmonton. It would not be a stretch to say that Perron was a fan favourite while he played in Edmonton as he brought a gritty, pain in the ass game that added some variety to the team. In his only full season with the Edmonton Oilers, Perron posted career highs in goals (28) and points (57) and Penalty in Minutes (90).

However, his second year on the team, Perron Struggled and newly signed Benoit Pouliot outplayed him. In this near New Year’s Day trade, The Oilers ended up acquiring a first round pick and a useful depth player in Klinkhammer.

Was it a good trade?

I’d say yeah it was for the Edmonton Oilers as they ended up with a high draft pick due to Pittsburgh’s quick exit in the playoffs (which ended up being 16th overall; used for the Griffin Reinhart trade) and Klinkhammer proved to more useful than the throw-in I envisioned.

Still, this trade stands out because I remember how I felt reading the news: The Oilers yet again traded a player for magic beans and were sellers yet again. They had a dreadful season that year and Perron did not exactly play lights out in Pittsburgh (in 74 games played, Perron only has 33 points). It was a bitter pill because the Oilers were “rebuilding: yet again. I felt frustrated that the Edmonton Oilers had to trade away proven players rather than acquire them. As it would turn out, Perron was not the only player to be shipped out for mythical magic beans.

Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Number Eight: First Overall Picks Score

On October 17th, 2015, The Edmonton Oilers played the Calgary Flames in Calgary in the first Battle of Alberta of the season. It was also featured on Hockey Night in Canada.

Now, for whatever reason, the Oilers kinda stink when it comes to Prime time games. Especially on Saturday nights against the Flames. However, something funny happened that night.

The Oilers won. In convincing fashion: 5-2.

Not only that, but every first overall pick that the Edmonton Oilers had drafted, scored.

First was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, followed by Connor McDavid breaking a tie, then Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov and McDavid again to seal the game.

Even better: this was Connor McDavid’s breakout game. Prior to that game McDavid had only one goal and no assists in the previous four games. McDavid only had two goals and an assist on the night. Taylor Hall would earn second star honors as he had one goal and two assists.

Sure, you can make snide comments about how the Oilers needed all these first overall picks to beat the Flames (because that’s how bad the Oilers have been), but that was a treat to watch. All our Young Guns just demolishing the Calgary Flames, with Connor McDavid leading the way. It would only be a sign of things to come for McDavid: After that game McDavid would go on to score 8 points over his next 8 games before injuring his Clavicle.

Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Number Seven: Oilers overcome 3-0 Deficit

On October 29th, the Edmonton Oilers were down 3-0 within the first period.

Stop me if you heard that one before. These were the same sad sack Oilers that we’ve come to get frustrated each night. Lifeless. Poor effort. Horrid starts.

Might as well turn off the TV, read a book, do something productive. Obviously, the Oilers weren’t going to do that.

Guess again though. The Edmonton Oilers actually came back from that 3-0 hole to win 4-3 in regulation against the Montreal Canadiens. It was definitely a game after all.

Remember, this was the Montreal Canadiens who just snapped a nine game winning streak on the Tuesday before against the Vancouver Canucks. This is the same Montreal Canadiens that have the mighty Carey Price, the reigning Hart and Vezina trophy winner in net. It looked bad.

However, the Oilers battled back, which was a foreign concept to me as an Oilers fan. Leon Draisaitl, playing in his first game of the season after being called up from Bakersfield the night before, opened the scoring on an iffy goal on Carey Price. Next, McDavid would keep track of the puck to give it to the blue line where Davidson would score. Then McDavid, not to be finished, he would set up a great pass to Benoit Pouliot for the tying goal.

Then came Draisaitl’s second game of the year, where he would receive a gift from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in roughly the final minute of the game.

It was one of the Oilers better games of the year and it was something else to watch. It was a game that I did not see coming.

Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Number Six: The Oilers Trade Jeff Petry

Jeff Petry was a guy who was on his way out and there was no doubt about it and to this day, it’s a head scratcher.

On March 2nd, 2015, The Edmonton Oilers traded Jeff Petry to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2nd round pick and a 5th round pick (conditional), both in 2015.

SURE, at some point, we need to move on from it, but man, did this trade ever sting.

This trade starts off in the summer of 2014 where Craig MacTavish in his glory, decided to give Jeff Petry, a pending Unrestricted Free Agent, a one year contract, worth 3.2 million dollars, to “challenge” him.

The part with Jeff Petry is that he’s a player that the Oilers had and is currently a hole on the roster: A strong right handed shooting defence man that is solid in his own end and can move the puck.

Even worse: Petry stood out in his short time in Montreal during the playoffs, where fans on a national level were able ton see Jeff Petry as a capable defenceman, rather than the best on a bad team.

Petry was mismanaged everywhere on a personel standpoint: You had the idiotic challenge and you had then head coach Dallas Eakins scratching Petry in favour of AHL All Star, Brad Hunt.

The biggest thing about Petry: he made his partners better. Look at Ladislav Smid away from Jeff Petry: he was simply not as effective as a defenceman without Jeff Petry (although injuries derailed his career as well.)

Just look at this link of the trade from the edmontonjournal.com: just complete sadness from the Oilers fan standpoint. After all this time where there were holes in the Oilers development system regarding defenseman, especially in later rounds, Jeff Petry was one of the very few that developed. Instead of keeping him around, the Edmonton Oilers could only gain a conditional second round choice and a fifth round choice (both in 2015). It was a dreadful trade. Like David Perron, it was trading actual NHL players for picks. When you’ve been as long as the Edmonton Oilers have been, it’s beyond frustrating.

Petry would re-sign in Montreal, at 5.5 million per season for six years, including a no-trade clause. The Oilers would sign Andrej Sekera in free agency for the exact same contract, but I can’t help but wonder how effective a Sekera and Petry pairing would be this year.

Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Number Five: Draisaitl and Hall breaking out

Let’s rewind once again here.

Last year, Leon Draisaitl was sent down to the WHL joining the Kelowna Rockets on a memorial cup run. In 37 games, he looked over like he was barely keeping his head above water, being thrown in the second line centre spot where he produced only 2 goals and 9 points in those 37 games. However, once in Kelowna, Leon Draisaitl started to show why he was taken 3rd overall in the 2014 NHL entry draft.

In only 32 games in Kelowna, Draisaitl would produce a whopping 53 points for the WHL power house. Sure, there were arguments about Kelowna already being a strong enough team, but Draisaitl was a dominant driving force for the Rockets in the games he played last season. Unfortunately, they would come up just short, losing in the Memorial Cup Final in overtime against the Oshawa Generals. It was there that Draisaitl joined teammate Taylor Hall as a Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as Memorial Cup Most Valuable Player.

During Development Camp and Training Camp, with eyes on Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse, Draisaitl looked like he belonged in the NHL. Which was shocking, as he was the final cut of the team. He was reportedly upset, I couldn’t blame him there. However, while in the AHL, he did not produce: in six games, he produced a goal and an assist.

However, things changed after he was called up for the October 29th tilt against the Canadiens, where he matched his 2014-15 goal total in the single game. It was only a sign of things to come.

In only 25 games played this year, Draisaitl has been a complete monster, posting 30 points during that span, where at the time of writing this, he is currently tied for 22nd in league scoring, despite playing almost ten games fewer than most other players. Some of the player that Leon Draisaitl is currently outscoring include:

Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Claude Girioux, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg, Jeff Carter.

That’s quite the list for him to be rising above. More so that I’ve noticed from Leon Draisaitl is how effective he is when he’s on the ice. He’s very hard to knock off the puck. His skating, his biggest knock, is looking more like a strength. Those first few strides no longer look as choppy as they were last year. He looks confident. And he’s producing like a mad man.

However, he’s been pure magic with his found money line mate: Taylor Hall, who is also having one helluva season so far.

Right now, Taylor Hall after 35 games played, has 15 goals and 39 points, which puts him in fourth place as of the time of writing this piece.

This is after a season where Hall was injured and produced only a career low 38 points in a career low 53 games (not counting the lockout shortened season). The best part about Taylor Hall’s play is how he’s shut up his critics. Remember, this is only a year ago where people were pointing at Hall that he was a loser, that Hall did not have the intangibles or character to be a true leader for the Edmonton Oilers.

Kurt Leavins here at Oilonwhyte.com wrote this article about Taylor Hall’s “haters” about four months ago. There were your protypical “Hall’s a floater, pouter, floats back to his zone, isn’t a leader” non sense in the comments.

Yet, Taylor Hall continues to give his harshest critics some well deserved crow. Only in the top 5 of league scoring. Only a +13 (although +/- isn’t the greatest stat), he’s been decent in terms of possession.

Right now, Hall deserves the Captaincy on his sweater. He’s the MVP of the Edmonton Oilers so far this season.

Both of them, Hall and Draisaitl, have been the most productive duo for the Oilers and are in with some excellent company.

Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Number Four: Glen Sather Night

On December 11th, the Edmonton Oilers honoured the man responsible for assembling the great talent that lead the Edmonton Oilers to winning 5 Stanley Cups in 7 years, Glen Sather.

Glen Sather joined the Edmonton Oilers in 1976 and by the time the Edmonton Oilers joined the National Hockey League, Sather was both the Head Coach and the General Manager of the team. With Barry Fraser as head scout, Sather was able to draft players such as Paul Coffey, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, Charlie Huddy, Kevin Lowe, Jari Kurri, Andy Moog and Steve Smith between 1979 and 1981.

Of course, leading the charge, was a kid named Wayne Gretzky.

In Peter Gzowski’s book, The Game of Our Lives (which is a must read for any Oilers fan), details the balance that Sather had to bring to a team filled with teenagers. Sather was a fiery competitive person, making anything into a competition, even when conversing with others. Sather always wanted an edge over someone. It was his nature.

Sather fuelled the Edmonton Oilers sense of cockiness. With the media, according in Mark Spector’s book Battle of Alberta (another solid read for Oilers fans), Sather would be combative and would respect media members that could go toe to toe with him.

It was not all roses and sunshine with Sather: Paul Coffey would be the first to leave as Sather would often be very critical towards Coffey. The relationship did not exactly get any better when Coffey would hold out for nearly two months, leading to his trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1987.

Sather would be put in a tough situation regarding the Gretzky trade and would soon lose the other members of the core, such as Fuhr, Anderson and Messier. Frustrated by the small market, never being able to afford players, Sather would head the New York Rangers as General Manager and President of Hockey Operations in 2000. After using the financial muscle of New York, his high pay roll transactions did not pay off, as players like Theo Fleury and Eric Lindros. However, under Sather, the Rangers drafted players such as Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal, Derek Stepan, Ryan Callahan and Chris Krieder. The Rangers would make one Stanley Cup appearance with Sather at the helm, losing in 2014 against the Los Angeles Kings.

Still, on December 11th, it was a great sight. You had almost all of the former big name Oilers attending (Save for Gretzky, who had family matters to attend to). You had Sather descending through the crowds of Rexall place, shaking hands and waving at fans. There was also a touching moment where he hugged Joey Moss, the long time locker room attendant of the Edmonton Oilers.

It was fitting for Glen Sather to have his banner raised in the final season at Rexall Place. His former team would defeat his current team in a throw back, fire wagon 80s hockey, with a final score of 7-5. It was a back and forth game, where Henrik Lundqvist was pulled for the first time this season.

I’ve included both Sather’s entrance and speech. It’s definitely a good look towards a man who built the Edmonton Oilers into a dynasty.

Number Three: The Oilers Hire Todd McLellan

On May 19th, 2015, the Edmonton Oilers with new General Manager Peter Chiarelli at the helm, announced the club’s latest head coach: former San Jose Sharks Head Coach, Todd McLellan.

This was a monumental move for the Edmonton Oilers as they completely revamped their hockey operations from the top down, finishing up with snagging one of the best available head coaches on the market with Todd McLellan.

Since 2009, the Edmonton Oilers had the following Head Coaches:

2008-2009: Craig MacTavish

2009-2010: Pat Quinn

2010-2012: Tom Renney

2012-2013: Ralph Krueger

2013-2014: Dallas Eakins

2014-2015: Craig MacTavish (for a few games), Todd Nelson.

That’s count em: 7 different head coaches over the span 7 years (alright, MacTavish double dipped). This was nearing Cleveland Browns territory of badness when it came to instability of coaching where there would be a new one every year. Not one coach, save for Craig MacTavish prior to the 2008-09 season, lasted more than two years in their position. Also, the last three Head Coaches were complete rookies as head coaches at the NHL level.

From Lowetide, it’s a vastly different record under Todd McLellan:

• Oilers in October 2014: 4-5-1
• Oilers in October 2015: 4-8-0
• Oilers in November 2014: 2-9-3
• Oilers in November 2015: 4-7-2
• Oilers in December 2014: 2-8-4
• Oilers in December 2015: 7-3-0
  
• Oilers after 35 in 2014-15: 7-21-7, 21 points (-51 GD)
• Oilers after 35 in 2015-16: 15-18-2, 32 points (-15 GD)

I think the most significant number are the wins: The Oilers had a rocky October, doubled their November total and could quadruple their December total.

So far, they’ve doubled their wins after 35 games and their goal differential, while still negative, has improved by 36. That’s a great number, considering the youthful and sup bar defence and goaltending that has started to play more consistent throughout the season.

As an Oiler fan, we are fortunate to have an experienced man like Todd McLellan behind the bench knowing that he won’t get fired within a season and a half. He’s here for the long run.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Edmonton Oilers Hire Peter Chiarelli

On April 23rd 2015, the Edmonton Oilers made  monumental hire: the team announced that Peter Chiarelli would be hired as General Manager and President of Hockey Operations.

Fired shortly after missing the playoffs with the Boston Bruins in 2015, Chiarelli replaced Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe in their hockey posts. Sure, the two would still be within the organization (MacTavish as an assistant General Manager, Lowe as a vice chairman on the business side of the organization).

Chiarelli was the first ever General Manager that the Oilers hired that had previous General Management experience.

1979-2000: Glen Sather (who was a helluva manager)

2000-2008: Kevin Lowe

2008-2013: Steve Tambellini

2013-2015: Craig MacTavish

Seriously. That’s quite an amazing stretch of not hiring someone with previous experience as a General Manager. With this hire, this was for me at least, the saying that the Old Boys Club was finally dead* . Sure, Chiarelli had two questionable moves that did not help his case near the end in Boston (The Tyler Seguin Trade, where the behind the scenes video had Cam Neely meddling and the Johnny Boychuk trade), but Chiarelli fronted a bad Bruins team when he took over in 2006. Things definitely changed as he slowly, but surely, improved the Bruins, eventually winning the Stanley Cup in 2011 and making an appearance in 2013.

A month later, Chiarelli would hire my #3 moment on the list, Todd McLellan as head coach. A proven NHL coach. In terms of roster movement, it’s a tad early to call trades a win or loss: The Griffin Reinhart trade cost the 16th overall pick and a 33rd overall pick and he’s currently playing in Bakersfield, while Cam Talbot is only starting to play like a starting goalie again (where it cost Chiarelli a 2nd, 3rd and swapping 7th rounders in the 2015 draft). Chiarelli would also move Boyd Gordon for Lauri Korpikoski, Prospect Liam Coughlin to Chicago for Anders Nilsson. Chiarelli would make a splash, signing Andrej Sekera to be a top pairing guy the Oilers have lacked for so long and centre Mark Letestu.

So far, some of these moves look questionable. Was Letestu an upgrade over Gordon? Reinhart was an overpayment, but addressed an organizational need. Sekera had a slow start but is arguably our best defenceman and Anders Nilsson looks like a steal.

Regardless, this is Year One for Mr. Chiarelli. So far, it’s so good. I’d take his hire over the others all day.

*I know there’s cynics out there that will point out BUT THEYRE STILL THERE1! They aren’t in a position of power. 

Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Number One: Connor McDavid

April 18th, 2015

April 18th, 2015 goes down as one of those days where you can remember exactly where you were when it happened. I remember where I was: I was at my friend Matt’s house, with his wife and our friend Bobby. We were watching the Draft Lottery for giggles. I thought, for sure, he’d be going to Arizona or Toronto. I mean, it was meant to be Toronto right? A Toronto Boy, one of the best prospects in the past ten years, had to go to Toronto.

Number Five: Carolina Hurricanes. Number Four, after some build up, The Toronto Maple Leafs. When it was Number Three, I had a funny feeling: wouldn’t it be a riot, if the Oilers won?

Sure enough. Number Three. “We have a winner!”

Bedlam. All four of us were jumping up and down, screaming. I called my brother, my dad and another friend, to let them know the news.

The Edmonton Oilers won the Draft Lottery. The Edmonton Oilers were going to draft Connor McDavid.

I immediately ordered a 97 McDavid jersey right afterwards.

June 26th, 2015. 

The Edmonton Oilers made it no surprise: Connor McDavid was drafted first overall. The most hyped prospect, the best since Sidney Crosby, is an Edmonton Oiler! Also debuted, was the Orange Oilers jersey.

Rookie Development Camp:

Since it was summer I decided to check out every day of development camp. The turnout for a rookie camp was unreal: it was moved to Rexall Place. There were loud cheers as McDavid stepped on the ice and even louder cheers when he shot the puck during warm up.

The scrimmage game was free and the entire bottom bowl was filled. McDavid only scored five goals effortlessly that night.

The Season:

McDavid started slowly enough: within the first four games, he had one goal, which was his first of his career against Dallas. Then, after the Calgary Flames game, McDavid would go on a tear: he would produce 12 points in 13 games played.

However, 2015 was cut short for McDavid. On November 3rd, against the Philadelphia Flyers, McDavid hit a rut and went hard into the boards with two Flyers on top of him. The Oilers would win, but McDavid would be out for months with a broken Clavicle. Go figure, this was the first game of the year that I went to.

What McDavid brings to the organization is hard to explain. After such a dreadful season last year, as a fan, I felt like I was at my limit. However, after a set of lottery balls were revealed, everything changed for the Edmonton Oilers.

In came Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan. Andrej Sekera, one of the most sought after Free Agents, said that McDavid was a factor for him joining the team.

It was just about the team either. The city was, and still is, in a complete buzz about this 18 year old wonder kid. His Rookie Card, the Young Gun released in November, was a mania in Edmonton that was not seen since Sidney Crosby. Buying those packs or boxes hoping to grab a McDavid? Good luck. Retailers supplies started to dwindle.

Number one Jersey seller in stores? Connor McDavid. Most talked about player in Edmonton? It’s still Connor McDavid, as we eagerly await any update on his injury.

Next: Edmonton Oilers May Have Deep Trade in Works

It’s a damn shame that his 2015 Calendar year ended the way it did, because McDavid was starting to live up to all the hype and then some.