Edmonton Oilers: 2007-08 Season Recap, Part 1

The Edmonton Oilers season officially ended last Thursday when they defeated the Vancouver Canucks.They were the first team to complete their 82 games this year. There will be no playoffs, but there is plenty of outlook.

At the beginning of the season I figured the Oilers would again struggle although not be as bad as last year. For the first 62 games this was the case. The team floundered in 14th place in the Western Conference. The team was disjointed and showed their lack of experience. It looked like Brian Burke and the Anaheim Ducks would be collecting a top five pick at this years draft.

All of a sudden the Oilers became a team. After an on ice team meeting led by Steve Staios, the team finally looked like a team and started playing like one. The rookies started playing like veterans, the veterans started playing like they belonged. The forwards started scoring, the defence started moving the puck and the goalies started winning some game for the team. This team of young warriors spotted with a few cagey veterans defied the odds and almost made the post season. Unfortunately they started playing like a team about 10 days too late as their chances at a playoff spot ended at game 81. It was a good try and there is lots to look forward too next season.

So while the season is fresh in out minds let's take a look at the players who gave us all the edge of the seat excitement the last 20 games. I will start by taking a look at the goalies and defencemen.

Goalies:

• Mathieu Garon - Was more than the Oilers hoped for. He was signed as an unrestricted free agent last summer as a back-up for Dwayne Roloson. It was expected that he would play 25-30 games which would be enough to give Roli a rest for the stretch run. Instead, he started outplaying Roloson and found himself as the Oiler's starting goalie. His athletic ability is second to none in the position and with the extra experience he should come back from a late season injury to claim the number one spot next season.
  • Value for the Money - at $1,200,000 for the season he was more than the team hoped for. A+
  • Value to the Team - he won several games by himself this season as the Oilers floundered. In the shootout he was spectacular as he only gave up two goals in 32 attempts against him. A+
• Dwayne Roloson - Started the season as the team's number one goalie. Unfortunately he didn't play like it until late in the season when he was called upon to replace an injured Garon. He posted the worst goals against average of his career and his second worst save percentage since he joined the NHL in 1996.
  • Value for the Money - at $3,500,000 he was less than stellar. His play was not what you would expect from a well paid goalie in the league or the teams fifth highest paid player. D
  • Value to the Team - if we had been talking about his value before the last 20 games he would have received an F however he did step up his play during the last 3 weeks after Garon was injured. He still let in some easy goals during the time and you could easily see that age was catching up to his reflexes but he did have two or three magnificent games during the season ending run. C-

Defencemen:

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