The Oilers management stated at the beginning of the rebuild they are emulating the Pittsburgh/Chicago method. Assembling a team through the draft. Let's hope Lowbellini know what they're doing because I want to see the post-season sometime soon.
Chicago
2006-2007 season: 31-42-9, 71Pts.
LW – Salmelainen, Bourque, Stewart
RW – Havlat, Sharp, Lapointe, Vrbata, Bondra
C – Arkhipov, Ruutu, Hamilton, Holmqvist, Smolinski
D – Keith, Seabrook, Cullimore, Aucoin, Kukkonen, Wisniewski, Barker, Vandermeer
G – Khabibulin, Lalime, Boucher
And then a bunch of visits. Wow, looking at the roster, this is an injury riddled team! That’s similar to the Oilers 1st last place season too!
Their prize... Patrick Kane
2007-2008 season: 40-34-8, 88 Pts.
LW – Sharp, Bourque, Ruutu, Samsonov, Ladd
RW – Kane, Havlat, Burish, Williams, Lapointe, C. Adams
C – Toews, Lang, Perreault, Bolland, K. Adams
D – Keith, Seabrook, Wisniewski, Byfuglien, Sopel, Barker, Hendry
G – Khabibulin, Lalime
Prize for 11th – Kyle Beach
2008-2009 season: 46-24-12, 104 Pts.
FOURTH PLACE IN THE WEST
LW – Versteeg, Ladd, Byfuglien, Brouwer, Eager
RW – Havlat, Kane, Burish, Adams
C – Toews, Bolland, Fraser, Sharp
D – Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Barker, Walker, Wisniewski, Johnson, Sopel
G – Khabibulin, Huet
Prize – Dylan Olsen, 28th
2009-2010 season: 52-22-8
SECOND PLACE IN WEST
LW – Versteeg, Brouwer, Ladd, Byfuglien, Eager
RW – Kane, Hossa, Kopecky, Burish
C – Toews, Sharp, Bolland, Madden, Fraser
D – Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Hjalmarsson, Barker, Sopel, Hendry
G – Huet, Niemi
I know Kane was from the lottery so I guess you could consider the 2003 draft as the real starting point of their rebuild because of how low they were picking, but do we consider Gagner the starting point of ours?
It took drafting from 2003 – 2007 to assemble a team and gel. Stanley didn’t come until 2010 because they needed free agents to put them over the top – Hossa and Campbell.
Recap: For forwards, 2005/06 brought them Toews (3rd), 2006/07 brought them Kane (1st), and 2007/08 was Kyle Beach (11th) but he hasn’t had a significant impact yet. Sharp was stolen (Ellison + 3rd), Hossa was signed, Versteeg was traded for (Bochenski), Brouwer was from 2004 (214th), Ladd was traded for (T. Ruutu), Big Buff was from ‘03 (245th) and Bolland was from ‘04 (32nd). The rest are scraps and irrelevant in my mind.
On defense, Seabrook was from 2003, (14th), Keith was from 2002, (54), Brian Campbell was a free agent, Hjalmarsson was from ’05 (108th) and Cammy Barker was traded before the deadline in the cup year. The rest are bottom pairing defensemen that are easily acquired on July 1.
The goaler was Niemi, signed as a FA in '08. Huet was there as well, signed as a FA also. The goalies were given the keys to a Porsche and were told not to crash it. They were damn close but Niemi got the job done.
This Chicago team had a sick top 6, a third line that could cover a teams top line if necessary and chip in some goals, and a 4 line that didn't lose to the other teams' 4 line. On the back end, Duncan Keith and Seabrook were a sublime pairing together and took on other teams' top lines and won the day. Campbell and Hjalmarsson took on the next best line and faired well too. Campbell got underrated on this team, but he didn't get a retirement contract for nothing. Finally, the goalies could stop beach balls.
The Oil will need some luck, and I'll analyze them in part III of the series. Next up is injury city v2.0. Pittsburgh.
No pressure, Petroleum.
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