Regular Season Finish: 10th in Western Conference
Since the Edmonton Oilers’ run to the Cup Finals in 2006, they haven’t managed to make it back to the playoffs. In 2009, however, the Oilers have made every effort to make themselves one of the league’s top competitors yet again. A large portion of the summer was unfortunately spent trying to acquire superstar winger Dany Heatley, who had requested a trade from the Ottawa Senators. However, the Oilers recently backed out of the Heatley sweepstakes, after a long summer of saving their assets and cap space for a player that they felt could give them a top caliber scorer to go with Ales Hemsky.
The Oilers haven’t added any new free agents, largely because they were saving their $5.1 million in cap space for the addition of Heatley and his $7.5 million a year contract. Another major cap hit that the Oilers took this summer was the addition of veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who backstopped the Blackhawks to the Western Conference Finals in 2009. With Khabibulin signed to take the starting role for next season, the Oilers released last season’s starter Dwayne Roloson, who signed with the New York Islanders. Backup goalie Dany Sabourin also left Edmonton, leaving Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers to backup Khabibulin.
Edmonton still managed to ice a capable offense last season, scoring the most goals of any other team in the Western Conference that didn’t make the playoffs. Khabibulin should help the Oilers cure their defensive woes and put them in better position to compete for the playoffs next season. Edmonton still has one of the quickest teams in the league, and, while adding Heatley could have been an advantageous move, the chemistry that was present in the 2006 run to the Finals is still there for the most part. If they can steer clear of injuries and ride solid play from Khabibulin, look for them to be making noise come April.