Oilers open camp, hope to fly high even without Top Gun centre on offence
Sportsnet.ca
September 13 @ 19:00, EST
EDMONTON (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers opened training camp Tuesday with big-name newcomers Chris Pronger and Mike Peca along with renewed hopes of flying high despite no true Top Gun goal scorer.
"It's going to be scoring by committee, but I think our depth is going to prevail," said winger Ryan Smyth, who led the Oilers in 2003-04 with 23 goals and 59 points. The team finished ninth in the league in scoring before the lockout. They were an abysmal 29th on the power play and missed the playoffs.
They had sought a big-impact offensive centreman in the months leading up to camp and did trade for strong two-way pivot Peca from the New York Islanders.
Smyth said with forwards such as Peca, Ales Hemsky, Raffi Torres, Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll, Radek Dvorak and Ethan Moreau, the goal scoring is greater than the sum of its parts.
Nevertheless, the key to the team's fortunes is six-foot-six, 220-pound defenceman Pronger, acquired last month from the St. Louis Blues and signed to a $31.25 million US, five-year contract.
The 30-year-old former Norris and Hart Trophy winner is expected to quarterback the power play, clear the slot of meddlesome forwards and kick-start the offence with crisp tape-to-tape passes to wingers streaking through the neutral zone.
The native of Dryden, Ont., who has been feted and fawned over like a rock star since arriving in the Alberta capital, says the crackdown on obstruction this year will help.
"With my passing ability and the speed up front I think we'll be able to get a lot of pressure on teams," he said.
"And obviously with obstruction rules being enforced the way they are, we'll be able to hit a lot of guys flying with speed and create a lot of offence from that."
General manager Kevin Lowe said the offence needs tweaking, not overhauling.
"We'd be happy with the way our offence was the last year we played," he said.
"If we can improve the power play and our goals against a bit, statistically that would have been enough to get us in the playoffs."
One player the Oilers are counting on to light the lamp is 26-year-old centre Shawn Horcoff.
Horcoff, who signed a $1 million US, one-year deal just before camp, has increased his point totals in each of his four NHL seasons and was a standout performer in the Swedish Elite League in the lockout year.
"You look at him out there skating and handling the puck today, clearly he's a confident player ready to emerge and, who knows, could be one of the next great centremen in the league," said Lowe.
Lowe joined 200 fans at Rexall Place Tuesday. They watched the Oilers and Oiler hopefuls practise and learn the new rule changes, which include two-line passes and the crackdown on obstruction.
Pronger said defencemen have the steepest learning curve.
"They're going to be the ones who need the biggest adjustment with body position and really paying attention to where the puck is, not obstructing the man as he's going to the net, a lot of things like that you were able to do in the past," he said.
"You're a little tentative at times trying to think what the new rules are," he added.
"It was a little odd out there but I'm sure with time we'll get a little more accustomed."
The Oilers host the Calgary Flames in their first pre-season game Friday.
