Edmonton Oilers: 2010-11 preview

Coach: Tom Renney
It wasn't supposed to end this way. The coaching transition from 68-year-old Pat Quinn to 55-year-old Tom Renney was expected to take longer and go a lot smoother. But the combination of locker room disharmony and way too many losses proved too much for even a nfl jersey
20-year NHL coach to survive.
Quinn's Edmonton Oilers were arguably the most disappointing team in the league last season, finishing with the NHL's worst record despite possessing more young talent than the Peace Corps. GM Steve Tambellini didn't give the old Coach a chance to stay, and for the second straight autumn the Oilers go into a new season with a new boss.
Quinn's comeback from retirement lasted only one season; the bad memories are likely to last a lifetime.
The only good to come out of the botched season was the first overall pick and junior sensation Taylor Hall(notes), who bears uncanny similarities in appearance and confidence to a young Mark Messier.
Now the Hall era has begun in Edmonton, but it's Renney's team.
The former Rangers' bench boss, who never got the credit he deserved in New York for helping to stabilize that team, ascended from his role as associate coach in Edmonton to replace Quinn.
It was all part of the plan, according to Tambellini.
"What plan?" asked Quinn, who was booted to an advisory role.
"It's not my decision," he told reporters at the time. "Is it a promotion? I'd say not. We went through some tough times, but I was looking forward to continuing to help to change the climate there and continue to help this organization go back to respectability in the sense of winning."
However clumsy the situation was handled, dropping Quinn was the right decision. The generation gap between Quinn and his players looked like the abyss in the second half of last season.
Renney, a new-age coaching pioneer heavy on technical instruction and communication, should relate better to the young players. And the regime change dovetails nicely with the arrival of Hall.
"I think I have the tools and I know I have confidence and drive," Hall says.
It's a good thing he feels that way because Hall is expected to restore the Oilers to glory. To help him, Tambellini undertook a thorough housecleaning over the summer.
A lot of young pretenders were dumped, including Ryan Potulny(notes), Marc Pouliot(notes), Patrick O'Sullivan(notes), Robert Nilsson(notes) and veteran captain Ethan Moreau(notes). Overpaid defenseman Sheldon Souray(notes) cleared waivers and the team was still shopping him as the season approached.
The Oilers will be a little less flashy and have a lot more bite this Pittsburgh Steelers jersey
season.
Besides combative defenseman Jim Vandermeer(notes), Tambellini brought in 6-5 defenseman Kurtis Foster(notes) as a free agent to replace Souray on the power play, and gritty fourth-line center Colin Fraser(notes) was obtained for a sixth-round pick from Chicago.
Given Shawn Horcoff's(notes) decline—his 36 points in 2009-10 were a five-season low—and the failure of Sam Gagner(notes) to build on his 49-point rookie season of 2007-08, the Oilers still don't have a first-line center. But they have a glorious candidate in 2008 first-rounder Jordan Eberle(notes), the Canadian Junior Player of the Year and an offensive dynamo capable of helping Hall lead an Oilers' resurgence.
Five years after he was drafted sixth overall, Gilbert Brule(notes) had a breakthrough 2009-10 season with 37 points in 65 games and could become an abrasive two-way center.
Hall should be one of Edmonton's top wingers. Dustin Penner(notes) is coming off a career-high 32 goals, but highly skilled Ales Hemsky(notes) is recovering from a major shoulder injury. Zack Stortini(notes) is an underrated enforcer, able to fight and play quality minutes.
The defense is solid, albeit lacking the young, potential stars the Oilers have up front. Mobile Ryan Whitney(notes) and Tom Gilbert(notes) are the top guys, but they would be no better than a second pairing on good teams. Gritty but offensively limited Ladislav Smid(notes) and Vandermeer are all right for the bottom of the order, and Foster, who reclaimed his career after breaking his leg two years ago, is somewhere in the middle.
A season-opening goalie is likely to emerge from an interesting camp battle among Jeff Deslauriers(notes), Devan Dubnyk(notes) and Martin Gerber(notes). The fate of veteran Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) is uncertain after a back injury that limited him to 18 games last year was followed by a DUI conviction that is likely to result in jail time and derail his early-season comeback hopes.
Offseason moves
Additions
Kurtis Foster, D (Tampa Bay); Alexandre Giroux(notes), C (Washington); Colin Fraser, C (trade, Chicago); Steve MacIntyre(notes), LW (Florida); Jim Vandermeer, D (trade, Phoenix); Shawn Belle(notes), D (Montreal); Gregory Minnesota Vikings jersey
Stewart(notes), LW (Montreal); Martin Gerber, G (KHL).
Subtractions
Patrick O'Sullivan, C (trade, Phoenix); Ethan Moreau, LW (Columbus); Ryan Stone(notes), LW (Calgary); Marc Pouliot, C (Tampa Bay); Chris Minard(notes), C (Detroit); Fernando Pisani(notes), RW (Chicago); Ryan Potulny (Chicago).