Slow start, strong finish seems likely for new look Edmonton Oilers

In are Matt Savoie, Ike Howard, David Tomasek, Andrew Mangiapane and Alec Regula. Trent Frederic, who was limping around on a bad ankle last year, is healthy and filling in for Hyman. Noah Philp is expected to take on a larger role after playing 15 games last year.

So it’s a very different look this year. But is it better?

Maybe not right now; they lost some good veteran players in this conscious effort to get younger, faster and cheaper, but the plan is to see the newcomers grow as players over the course of the season while the Oilers grow as a team.

“What we’re focused on now is starting the year strong,” said general manager Stan Bowman, who hit the European free agent marker hard in the off-season in order to bolster Edmonton’s feeder system.

“But, when you look at the big picture of the whole season, we want to see our team take steps internally. We didn’t have much of that the last couple of years, players growing by huge leaps and bounds over the year. I hope to see that this year.”