EDMONTON - There is a weird, exciting vibe here in Edmonton. A strange, reminiscent mix of optimism and caution; of wanting to fall in love with something special, but knowing that in Edmonton, love and hockey players can be a cruel, cruel mix.
Could they really be so lucky here, to have three young players with this much promise on Year 1 of The Great Rebuild? Can it happen this fast?
"I think it's a good time to be an Oiler," Taylor Hall said on Wednesday, with one sleep to go before realizing the dream of standing on the blue-line and listening to the anthem play before his very first National Hockey League game.
Edmontonians have been fooled before, by a team that came within an eyelash of a Stanley Cup victory in 2006. They were going to win it all in '07, but alas, Pronger bolted and the organization cratered, tumbling to a 30th place last season.
For most teams building up from the scorched earth of a 30th-place finish, Hall would be a sturdy cornerstone. But here in Edmonton, the appearance of two more pillars in Magnus Paajarvi and Jordan Eberle makes one think that perhaps, after eating the Calgary Flames dust year after year, this is all simply a mirage.
As of today we don't know who will become the best player among Hall, Eberle and Paajarvi. But after a preseason in Edmonton, this much is clear: Hall is the youngest, his development is behind the other two as the season begins, and still he appears to be a fantastic player.
It is a high-end trio that, like it or not, takes a city back to a time when some faceless young kids - albeit alongside Wayne Gretzky - broke into the NHL the same way these ones will Thursday night.
That will be the context, though Eberle isn't sure how fair the comparison is.
"Those are some pretty big shoes to fill. Most of them are hanging in the rafters," he said of players like Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson and Mark Messier. "Realistically, this is not only going to take some time, but we've got to get better every day and feel more confident."
The excitement in Edmonton however, lies in the fact that they didn't know the answers back in 1979 either. But as it became clear what was going on with those old Oilers, it became a traveling road show with a national presence this franchise has not seen in years.
Wouldn't it be fun if that recreated itself? Or is that the last thing this team needs right now?
"Isn't that what you love about it?" head coach Tom Renney said of the uncertainty. "That's what you hope for. If they are doing well, then we're doing our job. And if they're not doing well, and they're coping with it, we're still doing our job.
"I'd be disappointed if we weren't the talk of the league for having some real good things going on in our team."
It would take a lot of guts to pick the Oilers to crack the Top 8 in the tough Western Conference this year. Then again, no one picked the Phoenix Coyotes or the Colorado Avalanche to finish Top 12 a year ago, and both were still alive when the first round began in April.
There are prime prospects, obviously, in the No. 1 overall pick Hall, the 2010 CHL Player of the Year Eberle, and Paajarvi, a 19-year-old who joined the Swedish Elite League at 16 and was an All-Star at the men's World Hockey Championships last year.
But there are also players like Ales Hemsky, who had a season-ending shoulder injury on Nov. 25 of last season. He's never played among an Oilers Top 6 with this much skill and creativity, and should thrive.
Dustin Penner got in shape and had 32 goals last season. He's chiseled again this year, and could press for 40 goals if his maturation continues.
Centre Sam Gagner had two sour seasons, but at age 21 he appears ready to make a career jump.
"There are a lot of skilled guys in here," Hall said. "I've played a lot of hockey, even though it's junior, and I've skated with a lot of guys. This is a good team."
It might just be, one day.
For now though, this is a team that will be fun to watch - even when it loses.
