B12 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | FRIDAY,SEPTEMBER13,2019
healthy McDavid for the start of
the season, and every game
thereafter, if they hope to sur-
mount pessimistic predictions
and return to the playoffs.
McDavid was second in NHL
scoring last year (41 goals and 116
points), while linemate Leon
Draisaitl was fourth (50 goals and
105 points).
Along with centre Ryan Nu-
gent-Hopkins, the Oilers have a
formidable trio. But after that,
the scoring dried up like a
sponge in the Sahara last year as
the Oilers missed the playoffs for
the 12th time in 13th seasons in
2018-19.
That triggered yet another
front-office shuffle, starting with
new general manager Ken Hol-
land and Tippett, along with oth-
er wholesale changes in the
scouting and player-develop-
ment departments.
Holland, hoping to match his
success with the Detroit Red
Wings without a lot of salary cap
room to play with, spent the
summer trying to shore up the
bottom six forward group. He
signed free agents such as Mar-
kus Granlund, Joakim Nygard, Ri-
ley Sheahan and Gaetan Haas.
The goal is to find a gem
among the new crew up front,
similar to what walk-on Alex
Chiasson did for Edmonton last
season when he scored a career-
best 22 goals.
“There are jobs that are open,”
Tippett said. “It’s jobs on the
team, it’s ice time, it’s roles, and
there are a lot of different people
that are vying for those roles.”
The Oilers will have to make
do without winger Jesse Puljujar-
vi, the top pick from 2016 who
has not lived up to expectations.
He was pegged in a third-line role
this season, but is now playing in
Finland while in a standoff with
Oilers management.
Holland also dealt underper-
forming forward Milan LucicT
he Edmonton Oilers
opened training camp
Thursday with all eyes on,
well, Connor McDavid’s left knee.
The Oilers’ star centre has
been skating strong and, based
on recent precamp practices, in-
jury-free.
But he is waiting on the final
word from doctors on what his
practice regimen will be, and
whether he’s cleared for contact
when players hit the ice Friday.
“I leave that stuff up to the
doctors,” McDavid told reporters
at Rogers Place during player
medicals.
“My job is just to go out there
and play.”
McDavid is expected to see ve-
ry limited, if any, preseason game
action as he rehabs the knee liga-
ment he partly tore five months
ago while ramming into a goal-
post at freight-train speed in the
final 2018-1019 regular-season
NHL game.
But he said he hasn’t been
holding back since.
“I’ve been out there for scrim-
mages and stuff like that and got
bumped and been in battles,” he
said.
“I’m not nervous about it, but
ultimately you’ve got to listen to
the doctors.”
Head coach Dave Tippett said
the key word is caution.
“We’re going to be very conser-
vative,” he said.
“Everything looks great right
now, but we want to make sure
he’s right on opening day of the
season.”
The Oilers, obviously, need a
(and his US$6-million salary for
this season) to Calgary for James
Neal, who is also getting big
bucks long term and aims to re-
bound from a subpar seven-goal
season.
On defence, Holland and Tip-
pett have their fingers crossed
that young guns such as Evan
Bouchard and Philip Broberg will
soon be ready for prime time
while in the meantime relying on
veterans Oscar Klefbom, Adam
Larsson, Darnell Nurse, Matt
Benning and Kris Russell to carry
the load.
The Oilers still need a puck-
moving D-man, having parted
ways with veteran Andrej Sekera.
In goal, Holland has brought
in 37-year-old Mike Smith from
Calgary with the plan he will
push inconsistent Mikko Koski-
nen and move the goaltending
dial, if nothing else, out of liabil-
ity territory.
There’s lots of work to do.
The Oilers finished 25th over
all last season and at 35-38-9 mis-
sed the playoffs by 17 points. The
offence was mediocre (ranked
20th at 2.79 goals a game) and
the defence was worse (ranked
25th at 3.30 goals against a game).
The power play was better
than average (ninth), but the
penalty kill was brutal (30th).
Nevertheless, in Edmonton,
where fans bleed blue and or-
ange, hope is renewed that may-
be this year the phoenix will rise
from what has become hockey’s
perennial dumpster fire.
“Everyone’s excited to get go-
ing,” said forward Zack Kassian,
who had a career year last season
with 15 goals.
“Everyone in that room feels
we have something to prove. As a
team, we haven’t performed the
way we wanted to.
“That’s our goal, just to make
the playoffs.”THE CANADIANPRESSOilerConnorMcDavid,contendingwithBraydenMcNabboftheGoldenKnightsinagamelastApril,sayshe’s
leavinghispracticetimelineuptodoctors.‘Myjobisjusttogooutthereandplay.’ETHANMILLER/GETTYIMAGES
McDavid’skneethefocus
asOilersprepareforseason
Starunlikelytobe
ontheicethrough
trainingcampaspartly
tornligamentrecovers
DEANBENNETTEDMONTON
A
fter spending a season with a rotating cast of win-
gers, Vancouver Canucks centre Bo Horvat is look-
ing forward to a little consistency.
“Last year, with injuries and stuff, playing with
pretty much everybody and every combination you can
think of, it was tough to get chemistry,” Horvat told reporters
on Tuesday.
“Being together with guys for a long period of time, you
know each other’s tendencies and where we’re going to be on
the ice. And I think [consistent linemates] would be huge for
my game and help the team out as well.”
Vancouver finished last year with a 35-36-11 record, missing
the playoffs for the fourth season in a row. But some big ros-
ter changes have ignited new hope.
Canucks general manager Jim Benning spent the off-sea-
son trying to make dreams of depth and lineup stability
come true, acquiring forwards J.T. Miller and Micheal Fer-
land, and defencemen Tyler Myers and Jordie Benn.
“I think our team’s better than it was last year,” coach Tra-
vis Green said. “I think we’ll be better equipped in a lot of
areas.”
With the Canucks set to open training camp in Victoria on
Friday, exactly who will skate alongside Horvat and last year’s
star rookie Elias Pettersson remains to be seen. But Green is
looking forward to having options.
“I would love to have set lines from day one right through
the whole season. That would be a coach’s dream. And that
usually means you win a lot of hockey games,” he said.
Adding players has also created more competition for ice
time. The Canucks are taking
64 players to training camp, in-
cluding 35 forwards, 22 defen-
cemen and seven goalies.
Benning has previously said
jobs are on the line this year,
and he’s already spoken to the
club’s owners about the possi-
bility of sending some big-tick-
et players to the club’s Ameri-
can Hockey League affiliate in
Utica, N.Y., if necessary.
Defence Troy Stecher is em-
bracing the challenge of in-
creased competition.
“With the additions we made, obviously I think playoffs is
a huge focus for our group,” he said. “Any time you can add
depth and make your team better in the long run, I think it’s
going to make every individual player better as well. Friendly
competition is a good thing. It pushes you to be better and
pushes you to be at the top of your game at all times.”
Many of the new additions are big bodies who are expect-
ed to help ease Vancouver’s scoring woes. The Canucks fin-
ished last season with 225 goals for, good for 10th in the West-
ern Conference.
Miller put up 47 points for the Tampa Bay Lightning before
he was dealt to the Canucks at the end of June. Myers – who
signed a five-year, US$30-million deal on July 1 – had 31 points
for the Winnipeg Jets last year.
“I think last year we didn’t get to the net. We weren’t big
and strong enough to get to the net,” Benning said, adding
that the squad needs more “dirty goals” from rebounds and
deflections.
“We need to score more goals, but I think we’ve added
players that can get to the net, defencemen that can get
pucks through to score the goals. So that’s kind of our plan.”
The newest Canucks are eager to chip in. Miller has already
skated with both Horvat and Pettersson and is “big fan of the
way they play.”
“I think the biggest thing is how well-rounded the team is
now,” he said. “Obviously, as a guy on another team, you see
how much young talent this team has and how hard they
were to play against last year. So I’m really excited to bring to
the table what I can and get everything going here.”
Pettersson, who was crowned the NHL’s rookie of the year
last season, is looking forward to his sophomore campaign,
too.
“I think coming into last year, I didn’t know maybe how I
would do and teams weren’t paying that much attention to
me,” he said. “But I think that will change now and I know
what I’m heading into.”
The 20-year-old led the Canucks in scoring last year, tally-
ing 28 goals and 38 assists in 71 games en route to winning the
Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. Knowing that he wanted
to play a full 82-game regular season this year, Pettersson
spent his summer working on conditioning, and getting
stronger and faster with his strength coach.
Still, the Swedish centre doesn’t have any specific goals
heading into the year, saying instead that he just wants to
play his best hockey.
“I’m never satisfied,” Pettersson said. “I want to get better
every day. I want to win and do my best to help the team to
win.”THECANADIANPRESSAddeddepthraises
expectationsforCanucks
GEMMAKARSTENS-SMITHVANCOUVERIthink our team’s
better than it was
last year. ... We’ll be
better equipped in a
lot of areas.TRAVISGREEN
VANCOUVERCANUCKS
COACHT
he absence of Matthew Tka-
chuk and the presence of
former Edmonton Oilers is
creating buzz at Calgary Flames
training camp.
Tkachuk is among a number of
restricted free agents yet to sign
with their respective NHL teams.
A 30-goal, 70-point producer at
just 21 years of age, Tkachuk is a
key cog in the fortunes of the
Flames, who finished atop the
Western Conference last season
with 50 wins.
“He’s a unique player, he’s a re-
al good player,” general manager
Brad Treliving said Thursday
when Flames underwent physical
testing.
“We love the player and the kid.
He’ll be here when it gets done
and hopefully it’s done soon.
“Once camp starts, you hate
missing days. It’s days you don’t
get back in terms of the prepara-
tion. All we worry about is getting
a deal done.”
Calgary opens the regular sea-
son Oct. 3 against the Colorado
Avalanche, who upset the Flames
in five games in the first round of
the playoffs.
Any exchange of staff involving
the NHL’s Battle of Alberta is intri-
guing to hockey fans in the prov-
ince.
Cam Talbot and Mike Smith
signing with Calgary and Edmon-
ton respectively on the first day of
unrestricted free agency July 1 was
essentially a goalie swap betweenthe rival cities.
Talbot had a brief stop in Phila-
delphia as a rental player to con-
clude last season, but the 32-year-
old from Caledonia, Ont., spent
the majority of the last four years
with Calgary’s northern neigh-
bour.
Talbot is expected to push
David Rittich for starts in theFlames’ net.
Burly forward Milan Lucic is
now a Flame after a July deal that
sent James Neal to the Oilers.
Both are contract-heavy for-
wards trying to recover their peak
form after disappointing cam-
paigns.
A Stanley Cup winner with the
Boston Bruins in 2011, Lucic mus-
tered six goals and 14 assists and
was minus-9 in 79 games last sea-
son.
“Even if I had a good year last
year, you always have something
to prove and want to get better,”
the 31-year-old from Vancouver
said.
“After having a subpar last year
and a half, ever since I would say
Christmas of 2017, I’ve been in a
slump that I haven’t been able to
get out of.
“I think I’ve got a lot to prove
and sometimes a fresh start is
what gets guys going again.”
Calgary’s top line of Johnny
Gaudreau (99 points), Sean Mo-
nahan (82) and Elias Lindholm
(78), as well as captain and Norris
Trophy winner Mark Giordano
(78) are capable of making the
Flames one of the highest-scoring
teams in the league again.“It’s not an easy thing to finish
first in the conference,” Giordano
said. “We’ve got to take the posi-
tives out of last year too and not
just the way it ended, the nega-
tive.”
Finnish defenceman Juuso Va-
limaki underwent surgery on a
torn anterior cruciate ligament in
his right knee Aug. 28.
The 20-year-old said he suf-
fered the injury earlier that
month while training, but did not
provide any details.
Calgary’s first-round draft pick
in 2017 was expected to be a regu-
lar in the lineup this season. His
absence, which will be weeks in
duration, created an unusual sce-
nario.
The Flames had bought out the
final year of Michael Stone’s con-
tract – a cap hit of US$3.5 million –
when the defenceman cleared
waivers in August.
Stone was limited to 14 games
last season over a blood clot.
The 29-year-old from Winni-
peg and the Flames agreed to a
one-year contract worth the
league-minimum US$700,000 on
the eve of medicals.THECANADIANPRESSTkachukmissing,LucicseeksfreshstartatCalgaryFlamestrainingcamp
DONNASPENCERCALGARY
MilanLucicridesanexercisebikeattheFlames’trainingcampinCalgary
onThursday.TheburlyforwardwasacquiredafteradealsentJames
NealtoEdmonton.JEFFMCINTOSH/THECANADIANPRESSHOCKEY