As the only team in the Northwest division without a legitimate heavyweight on the roster, team toughness was the buzzword coming out of training camp a season ago for the Edmonton Oilers.
Eighty-two games later, the Oilers had set a new team record for man games lost to injury.
It would be difficult and short-sighted to attribute the excessive injury totals of last season solely to the lack of some heavyweight muscle.
But it was brutally clear in watching the Oilers play hockey in last season that teams were taking liberties with their best players without any fear of retribution. Enforcers can serve as a deterrent in preventing the wear and tear that many of Edmonton’s skilled players endured last season.
Not having one was a tough sell in a town that has seen the likes of Dave Semenko, Dave Brown, and Georges Laraque call home.
Zach Stortini has been an entertaining stop-gap, and may very likely end up carving out a nice career as a middleweight in Oil Country. But Zach is just that – a solid middleweight stepping up a weight class when matched up against the likes of Derek Boogaard, Scott Parker, and Andre Roy – enforcers the Oilers could see as many as 18 times this season within their own division.
But it would seem that the Oilers are altering their approach this season, as evidenced by their unsuccessful attempt to lure Big George back to town this summer. After one look at a training camp roster that, until Thursday, included the likes of Sean McMorrow, and Hans Benson, and it is clear the Oilers will have knuckles waiting at the ready in Springfield this time around.
The 6’4″ 225-pound McMorrow had 86 fights in 48 games playing in a Quebec semi-pro league last season while Benson averaged a fight a game with the St. Louis Blues AHL affiliate. Both players were assigned to Springfield this week, but should the Oilers find themselves knuckles deep in a mid-season affair with a divisional rival the pair will be at the ready.
The feisty Guillaume Lefebvre is another.
In the meantime, the Oilers are clearly playing a more aggressive game physically this preseason, as evidenced by their 123 penalty minutes through their first three games.
Of course, it’s not quite as easy to run up the penalty minutes in the regular season and still manage to win hockey games, but at the very least it’s an indication that the team’s recent approach to team toughness may be fading in Oil Country.
And that’s sweet music to Ales Hemsky’s ears.