from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
It's not that people here aren't entertaining the idea that their Oilers could make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. They are. But they've also borne collective witness to consecutive finishes of 30th, 30th and 29th in the NHL. They've seen the goaltending fail, had a front row seat for what was the worst defensive corps in the league, and generally watched some mighty poor hockey for these past many years.
As one Oilers scout said recently, "Look, I just want to win a few games, and then see what happens…"
Sports Illustrated slotted Edmonton at No. 3 in its season-opening power rankings, behind only Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers. "Check with me in a month or two," pens writer Adrian Dater, "but it says here that they will get off to a great start…"
It is clear what has happened here in Edmonton. Such a profound lack of success has made the Oilers nearly irrelevant league-wide, while locally, fans have suffered through this rebuild shift by shift.
It's easy to check in from New York today and say, "Well, looks like it's time to take this cake out of the oven." In Edmonton, they've opened the oven a few times already, and watched the cake fall.
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