Edmonton Oilers | Edmonton Journal

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The Edmonton Oilers are perched in the starting blocks and the pistol has been raised in the air on their 2024-25 regular season.

What was officially the shortest off-season in franchise history — just 107 days after losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final — had to feel like the longest one at the same time for the returning players.

And return they did, with as many free agents re-enlisting as those who left. Likely for less money than they could have made elsewhere, at that.

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Toss in some veteran free agents who’ve hitched their wagons to the runaway Oilers freight train and this far-off, secluded market is all of a sudden looking like a destination location.

You want to have a legitimate shot at hoisting the Stanley Cup this season? Why not come to Edmonton and bask in the glow of one of the best players ever to pick up a hockey stick?

But while the Oilers appeared to have improved offensively, their defence got picked apart. And after magically coming together so seamlessly under the watchful eye of legendary blueliner Paul Coffey.

No longer did the team have to count on scoring five, six or seven goals in order to win a game.

The Oilers showed an ability to shut teams down in the defensive zone and allow Stuart Skinner the opportunity to look like more than a goalie in his sophomore NHL season.

With the new pieces they brought in, it was going to take some tinkering.

That’s the short synopsis of the off-season, anyway. Now let’s look at all that’s transpired throughout training camp as the puck is set to drop on opening day against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday at Rogers Place (8 p.m.).

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PRE-SEASON, SCHMEE-SEASON

OK, so the Oilers looked anything but their previous playoff selves while going 3-5 in exhibition over the past couple weeks.

Actually, that record paints them in a better light than pointing to a team that got outscored 36-19 along the way.

Or that their power play that finished the playoffs second overall at 29.3 per cent, and top-ranked penalty kill that functioned at 94.3 per cent, both ended up way, way down the list during the pre-season.

Skinner going 1-2 with a save percentage of .880 hardly instills supreme confidence in the crease.

But so what? It doesn’t count anyway. Right?

And besides, none of it will matter once the Oilers go on one of head coach Kris Knoblauch’s patented eight- or 16-game win streaks at some point or another.

STRONG START

Speaking of, the momentum gained from those winning runs is exactly what the doctor ordered to cure what had been an atrocious start to things last year.

As long as the Oilers don’t get caught looking too far down the road at any sort of Stanley Cup mulligan, no one expects them to get off to the same slump that saw them limp into early November with a 2-9-1 record one year ago.

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Then again, no one expected it last year, either, which is why then-head coach Jay Woodcroft was shown the door. Expectation didn’t mesh with reality, which leads us to his replacement …

How did the pre-season hold up to his expectations as he took this tweaked roster for a test drive?

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

To say the revamped second line is coming together would be a stretch.

It hasn’t exactly been instant chemistry between Leon Draisaitl and new wingmen Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner. Not that they’ve had a ton of in-game time together throughout the season.

But Knoblauch has already seen enough at this point to begin mixing and mingling his second and third lines ahead of opening day, swapping Skinner down to the third line in favour of Mattias Janmark.

Of course, it’s the coach’s prerogative to put whatever ingredients he wants into the blender in order to get a good taste of what his roster has to offer.

But that doesn’t mean Skinner won’t be back on the second line Wednesday.

Speaking of changing plans, so much for Josh Brown replacing the physical presence of Vinny Desharnais as Edmonton’s new 220-pound blueliner.

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Throughout training camp, the veteran Brown had been paired up with Brett Kulak, only to find himself among the list of final cuts and sent down to the American Hockey League farm in Bakersfield, Calif.

That likely moves Troy Stecher into the third D-pairing to start the season, while Ty Emberson appears to have worked his way onto a spot next to Darnell Nurse behind the top pairing of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm.

But with a little cap space to their credit — as much as $5 million, if all goes according to plan — expect the Oilers to bring in some help on defence at some point in time.

Another newcomer who has worked his way into the opening-day lineup is left-winger Vasily Podkolzin, who has been a camp staple on the fourth line with Derek Ryan and Corey Perry.

THE GOOD

What it all boils down to is this — any power rankings that don’t have the Oilers up high … really high … is going to be proven wrong.

In Edmonton, of course, anything short of another appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals is going to be seen as a lost season. And maybe simply appearing won’t even be enough this time around.

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This fan base is as starving as it is demanding. And when they see the best player in the world right now front and centre on game day, it doesn’t make suffering a loss any easier to take.

But if last year proved anything to them, it’s that these Oilers have an uncanny ability to roll with the punches, bounce back from anything and give themselves a chance in the end.

THE BAD

But we would be remiss to ignore a couple of pretty blatant facts facing this squad at the starting line of the season.

The first is no secret. The oldest team in the league is now one year older.

That might not mean as much for the likes of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl, who are still this side of 30 and well within their physical prime. But Father Time is catching up to some of their support players, who have a tough time keeping up with the elite pair at the best of times.

How long do the Oilers have before we begin to see the fatigue set into this team and players begin to lose a step?

At the same time, they didn’t do themselves any favours in the speed department by bidding farewell to Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod and Dylan Holloway. The trio of forwards could really put the pedal to the metal on the ice, which had to make it all the more difficult to watch them hit the free-agent freeway out of town.

THE UGLY

It doesn’t get any uglier than falling behind 3-0 to the Florida Panthers in the final playoff round.

They are in Edmonton on Dec. 16 for their first of two regular-season meetings between the defending conference champions, but the Oilers are going to have to wait until spring if they are looking to get any real payback against their foes from Florida.

E-mail: [email protected]

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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