[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Travis

So when Pat Quinn was brought in as the Oilers coach, I think a lot of the fans were hoping for change. Now I never hid the fact that I thought MacT's time here was done quite a while ago, but I do appreciate the poetic justice that leaves Quinn with largely the same player group to utilize this season so that there may be some insight gained into how much of the blame should fall on the (former) coach, the players and/or the front office.

That said, back to the changes. I had hoped we might start the season with Horcoff on the 3rd line in 5 on 5 situations, plugged into a defensive role, logging a ton of PK time and taking important defensive zone face offs, never to be heard of on the PP. Now how he'll be used on special teams is still up for debate, but he'll start the season as the #1 center skating on a line with Hemsky and JF Jacques who has excelled as a scorer in the minors but failed miserably as a 4th line banger any time MacT brought him up.

Instead, we see another MacT favorite demoted from the 2nd line to the 4th (at least to start the season) in Sam Gagner. Obviously things can change by the time the puck is dropped but he is currently slated to skate on a line with Zach "the fighter formerly known as Huggybear" Stortini and the captain, Ethan Moreau. How he'll take to this demotion and how he'll evolve his game given that his line mates aren't exactly known for the offensive prowess, who knows.

Other changes, well, Gilbert Brule cracks the lineup as does Ryan Stone. Robert Nilsson is on the outside looking in while Fernando Pisani is likely going to be on the IR for quite some time. Andrew Cogliano has been ousted from the center position and will roam on the wing while the one real new addition up front, Mike Comrie, will play on a line with Dustin Penner and Patrick O'Sullivan.

It's going to be an interesting start to the season in Edmonton. I'm assuming there'll be some line blending and adjusting of roles depending on who starts hot, but given such a common player base to what MacT had, the combinations and roles players are being asked to play already show a very different flavor. This was a team widely regarded as a challenger to the NW Division title prior to last season, be interesting to see if they can deliver on those aspirations this season.

The strength of the Oilers will have to be their defense and goaltending. I think Khabibuhlin will have to play very well for the team to be successful. Based on past experience, that is a risky proposition.

While the forward ranks are pretty solid and balance, there's really no line or even player that would really scare me if I was the opposition. I can see the wisdom in spreading the talent over all four lines, since there is no one line to shut down, but the flipside of that is that other than a line getting hot here and there there is no line that really looks like it can generate goals on a consistent basis. After Hemsky is there any forward who would be considered a first line forward on any of last year's playoff teams? I'm not sure. I really haven't seen too much out of most of these guys, so it will be interesting to see how it all comes to together, especially under the new coaching regime.