Get Out The Shovels, Oilers Need To Fill Holes!

(Photo by Tim Smith/Getty Images)

Coming into the 2009 off-season, the Edmonton Oilers have several major changes to make. All of the following issues need to be addressed before the team can move forward.

This isn't going to be easy because there are several teams trying to do the same, using the same pool of available talent. If you're an Oiler fan, the major things to pay attention to are as follows:


Starting Goaltender:

The Oilers current situation in net is very interesting. With Mathieu Garon traded, Dwayne Roloson now a New York Islander, and only Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers under contract, a huge hole has been created between the pipes.

Trading with another team might be a possibility, but there aren't a large number of teams willing to part with a starter right now—least of all, an affordable one.

There have been rumors of talks between the Oilers and the Minnesota Wild involving the Oilers LW Patrick O'Sullivan and the Wild backup net minder Josh Harding. O'Sullivan was originally a Wild draft pick, and was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in the Pavol Demitra deal. For the time being, that deal seems unlikely.

A much more likely option is the Oilers testing the UFA waters and signing Scott Clemmensen or Craig Anderson. Both are former backups who played more significant roles with their respective clubs in 2008/09.

Clemmensen, who took over for the injured Martin Brodeur in New Jersey, functioned as a great stand-in 'tender, helping his team to their best record in franchise history.

Anderson battled with Tomas Vokoun for the starting job in Florida. While he was there, he played exceptionally, and helped Florida push their way into the ninth and 10th positions just prior to the playoffs. While they ultimately failed to make the playoffs, Anderson's play still resonated as a bright spot for the team last year.



Faceoff Man:

The next major issue the Oilers have to deal with is their lack of faceoff-winning centers. Shawn Horcoff (53.9 percent), being the only centre left on the current roster with a 50 percent or better faceoff percentage, was the go-to guy in the circle for the Oilers.

However, this led to him being overused, and the effects of a long, hard season seemed apparent in the latter stages of the season.

In other words, the Oilers need to find another guy to help support Horcoff this season. Maybe then he can relax and get back to the form he had in 2007/08, pre-injury.

Arguably, the best option on the market in this department is center Manny Malhotra, a UFA from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Malhotra—a 63.8 percent faceoff man—was in the top ten centers in the circle in 08/09.

His presence would take a ton of pressure off of our defense, especially on the penalty kill. With the new rule change last season, dictating that the next faceoff after a penalty call would be in the offending team's zone, winning that first faceoff becomes even more important.



Offensive Upgrade:

The Oilers need to address the lack of a definitive No. 1 scorer in their lineup—the last time Edmonton had a 40-goal scorer was Petr Klima, back in 1992.

To that end, I believe that the Oilers should drive hard after Dany Heatley. The former 50-goal scorer had an off-year last year and, despite that,

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