Ahhh, Edmonton, the city is about one thing, the Oilers. Nothing more, nothing less. I was at the Dead Poets Society concert last night and there where Oiler jerseys in the crowd. I love hockey, and I’m not a hardcore Dead Poets Society follower, but even I know how bad you stand out at a concert such as this with an Oiler jersey on, but it just goes to show what the bottom line is here in this fine city. The problem with a fan base such as this however is that more often then not the passion, excitement, and commitment turns into obsession, delusion, and just plain craziness all to quick.
The Edmonton Oilers have played a grand total of TWO pre-season games and the resulting impact in fan reaction has been nothing short unbelievable in some cases. Now, to even try to understand the rational, even though it still won’t help much, you have to look at the two games they have played so far. The first game was against the Canucks, in their barn, in which the the home team dressed all of their top six forwards. The Oilers didn’t dress many of there key players, turning to there meat grinders to grind out the first game. Grind they did, they looked good. The Oilers wanted to be tougher to play against, well if this game showed what the bottom two lines of the Edmonton Oilers will represent in the upcoming season, the Oilers will be a bigger, faster, and meaner team from the blueline through the bottom six forwards. The resulting reaction of some fans however, is that a talentless Oiler squad, beat the mighty Canucks with fairly large NHL lineup. Game 2 saw the Oilers take on the Lightning back at Rexall Place, in a game where the Oilers dressed their top line players and of course the clubs pixed picks in Tayler Hall and Magnus Paajarvi. Now I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t say I tuned into this game to see how the Oilers young guns performed and perform they did. Both players where noticeable shift after, after shift, both players scored, and Paajarvi ended up with a Hat Trick and an assist. Every fan in Edmonton went home happy about the future of the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night, just on different levels as it would turn out come Friday morning as fans reactions where aired on the radio waves of local sports stations.
In fairness, not everyone went off the deep end, their are fans like myself that are VERY tempered about how the 2010-2011 NHL season will go for this hockey club, but as always the vocal minority always weighs in more the the silent majority, at least that’s how I’m playing it in the hope that the following isn’t the true feeling of the average Oiler fan in this city. At this point some people are on record as believing the following. The Edmonton Oilers can challenge the Vancouver Canucks for the Northwest Division Title. The Oilers, when fully assembled could have NINE 20 goals scorers. Tayler Hall and Paajarvi will be the ONLY two players in the Calder Trophy running this season. Last but not least, Paajarvi is going to score 50 goals as a rookie.
Crazy enough for you?
We may as well plan the parade route while we are at it.
I hate to be the one that breaks the happy fun bubble but this is how it plays out. The Oilers will not challenge for the division title, in fact in looking at the Northwest, they will be having a hell of a season if they find away to not finish last in it. If the Oilers end up with 4 or 5 20 goal guys this year I’ll be happy. Penner, Hemsky, Horcoff, Paajarvi, and either Hall or Eberle. To be honest having 2 of the 3 young guns be 20 goal guys in year one might me crazy talk on my part. If the Oilers are lucky enough to have one of their players challenge for the Calder Trophy it’s a win. Last but not least, I’ll eat a fat man’s underwear if Paajarvi scores 50 goals, something that will be well worth it if I’m wrong mind you.
Oiler fans we have something good building here, lets not wreck it by putting expectations on a young hockey team that won’t happen. Don’t but the team, or ourselves for that matter, in a position of disappointment. The Oilers are going to be a great team in time, but one of the most important keys is having fans that understand these things don’t happen overnight, there is still a lot of work and growing to be done with this hockey club. Lets just enjoy the ride.
Then again, this is just another damned opinion.
