It was right about this time last year that Ethan Moreau joined Shawn Horcoff on the IR with a broken leg. Horcoff wasn't alone at the time. He had a lot of company as Sheldon Souray and Raffi Torres were also out of action.
The Oilers were down a first line centre, a No. 1 defenceman, a team captain and a veteran presence in Torres. And a funny thing happened -- the Oilers turned their season around.
History is repeating itself in a gentler fashion right now in Oil Country where Dennis Grebeshkov has now joined Lubomir Visnovsky on the shelf, creating a massive hole on the blueline between No. 1 and No. 4.
But are things really that bad? Comparatively speaking, the answer is clearly, "no". And the Oilers season doesn't need turning around the way it did last year. What it needs is a reality check, and perhaps, this is it.
The 7-2 defeat of the dysfunctional Habs aside, if the Oilers continue to meander through the remaining 28 games the way they have through most of the first 54, they will miss the playoffs, no matter who's healthy. This is a team that many thought would challenge for the Northwest division title, and to this point the only thing this Oilers' team has challenged is the expertise of the prognosticators. The record reads 27-23-4, but an overtime loss is still a loss, so what Edmonton's record should read is an uninspiring 27-27.
There is pressure to make the playoffs this spring, unlike last year when the kids went crazy, winning 14 of their final 21 games.
We're about to see if this meat-and-potatoes lineup has the jam to get it done in what is shaping up to be a pressure-packed race for the post-season. And it's beginning to look like the Oil might need to win 14 of their final 21 again. If they do, then maybe they're as good as we thought after all.