Pat Quinn's Promise to Oilers Fans

The following is the text from Pat Quinn's pre-game speech aired before the Oilers/Islanders game last night:

"Hello, I'm Pat Quinn, head coach for your Edmonton Oilers.

This is your team, and everything we do we do it for you -- our fans.

I can't sit here and make any promises about the post-season, but I can promise you this: we will play tough. We will show grit. And we will highlight the skill on this team.

And on every night, even when we're tired and it's cold, I promise you this:

This team will compete.

And when we do this, everything else will fall into place.

We will be taking on the world, starting October 3rd."

Hopefully, Oilers fans will be able to say a definitive "amen" to that.

Oilers Pull It Out in Third Period

The first 48 minutes of tonight's game didn't look especially good for the Edmonton Oilers.

Certainly, there were some good things about it: for one thing, Jordan Eberle's play. He didn't score any goals or rack up any assists, but he did create several quality scoring opportunities -- including an early shot that rang off the goalpost.

The first 6:39 of the game were especially bad, as the Oilers were severely out-played by the Islanders. Perhaps the Isles were energized by the long-awaited presence of Jonathon Tavares in their lineup (playing alongside Doug Weight), or perhaps the Oilers -- icing many more veterans and stars than their opponents -- simply came to the rink with a false sense of security.

The play of Islanders goaltender Nathan Lawson was certainly a factor, as he turned away a golden opportunity by Ales Hemsky, and stoned the Oilers power play on four separate occasions throughout the first two periods.

When the Oilers finally tied the game it game on a goal by Dustin Penner. A few minutes later Sam Gagner smuggled a backhand shot behind Lawson to pull ahead.

The Islanders would tie the game again on a wrist shot, only to have Sheldon Souray chug into the slot and score the game winning goal on a backhander.

Gagner and Souray both also notched assists to have a two-point night, and Andrew Cogliano, Robbie Nilsson and Hemsky also put up assists.

This Oilers squad -- the only two players to compete in last night's game were Devan Dubnyk and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers -- at least doesn't seem to have the penalty troubles that the road squad seems to have.

Souray dominated the puck, firing several heavy bombs off the point (including one almost directly into the Islanders' Richard Park). If he maintains his pace tonight throughout the season, Souray may eclipse the 26 goals he scored for the Montreal Canadiens in 2006-07.

But, again, the competition tonight was far from NHL-calibre. Jordan Eberle managed to outshine Jonathon Tavares as the best player on the ice -- better even than Hemsky -- but one shouldn't necessarily expect that to continue as the Oilers face tougher and tougher competition as the pre-season progresses.

One should remember also that the Oilers will face the Islanders again, in Saskatoon, later in the preseason. That will be a big game for Eberle, as it's just up the highway from his hometown of Regina.

Welcome to the NHL, Jonathon Tavares -- Hope You Survive the Experience!

The Edmonton Oilers will welcome 1st overall draft pick Jonathon Tavares to Rexall Place tonight, as he plays in his first ever NHL game.

Alongside Tavares will be Doug Weight, the highest-scoring active former Oiler in the league today, as well as the last Oiler to amass more than 100 points in a season.

Absent from the lineup will be Dwayne Roloson, who signed with the Islanders in the off-season, and will be duking it out with Martin Biron to decide who will play more games behind Rick DiPietro -- and who replace him if (more likely when) he gets hurt.

Richard Park, Andy Sutton and Jon Sim are the other Islanders of note in the lineup. This may allow an Oilers lineup stacked with Ales Hemsky, Sheldon Souray, Sam Gagner, Robbie Nilsson, Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner, Ladislav Smid and Fernando Pisani to drum up some illusions of dominant grandeur before facing more serious competition later in the pre-season.

Also dressing for the New York Islanders will be Robin Figren. Some may remember Figren as the Edmonton Oil King who dazzled for Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

But unquestionably all eyes will be on Jonathon Tavares tonight. Big, big things are expected of Tavares in Long Island, as they look to rebuild their franchise around him and try to recapture the heady glories once enjoyed there by Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin (among others).

It will be a long and arduous rebuilding process for the Islanders, who seem to abandon the "Oilers 2.0" theme of the past couple of seasons when they employed Weight, Bill Guerin, Miroslav Satan, Marc-Andre Bergeron and current Oiler Mike Comrie with their team.

Tavares may be the first realistic shot the Islanders have had for a while of developing a superstar all their own, and launching an "Islanders 2.0" program that is sorely long overdue.

Patty O's Big Night

Pat Quin and Tom Renney's debut behind the Oilers bench has come off perfectly, as the Oilers claimed a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames.

To be fair, the Flames regulars in the lineup were limited to Dustin Boyd, Jamie Lundmark, Kyle Greentree and David Moss. Meanwhile, the Oilers iced a lineup featuring Patrick O'Sullivan, Steve Staios, Shawn Horcoff, Mike Comrie, Zach Stortini, Tom Gilbert, Jason Strudwick and team captain Ethan Moreau. But every win in the Battle of Alberta counts.

In particular, Patrick O'Sullivan had a big night with two goals.

Tom Gilbert had a power play marked for the Oil and Shawn Horcoff finished the game with an empty netter.

Jason Jaffray responded for Calgary.

Mike Comrie had two assists, and Gilbert had a helper as well. Alex Plante, Robbie Schremp and Ryan Stone rounded out the other assists.

Mike Comrie seemed to have winning back Oilers finds on his mind as he worked hard, produced several scoring opportunities (and arguably scored one of O'Sullivan's goals).

If the Oilers had any problems tonight, it was the number of penalties they took. Playing against a lineup of minor leaguers and third- and fourth-line players, the Oil had no business giving up seven power plays.

O'Sullivan's two goals tonight equal what he scored in 19 games with the Oilers last season.

Then again, hopefully Pat QUinn and Tom Renney will wait to see how O'Sullivan plays against more NHL regulars later in the preseason before committing to giving him a spot on the top line alongside Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky.

Comrie to Re-debut in Cowtown

Oilers fans tuning into the webcast of tonight's preseason opener against the Calgary Flames -- streamed on the Oilers website for those not in the know -- may be disappointed at the absence of Nikolai Khabibulin in net.

But for those few who have awaited the return of Mike Comrie, tonight's game will certainly hold some interest. Comrie will centre Patrick O'Sullivan and Ryan Stone on the Oilers second line, just behind the top line combination of Shawn Horcoff, Robbie Schremp and Jean-Francois Jacques.

Comrie -- who has been wearing #91 in training camp after seemingly having wisely chosen not to fight Sam Gagner for #89 -- could even see some power play icetime with Robbie Schremp. Schremp is one of the players the Oilers selected with the draft picks they received for Comrie when they sent him off for some Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia.

Many, many eyes will be on Comrie to see if he picks up where he left off before the trade.

Comrie!

Hometown boy back in hometown

It's been a long six years for the Edmonton Oilers and Mike Comrie, but it seems like by-gones have finally become by-gones.

At least, so far as the team management and player are concerned.

In those six years the Oilers have made the playoffs but once, while Comrie shuffled his way through the Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders organizations, himself appearing in the playoffs only once.

One can imagine that the weeks between his signing today and the start of the pre-season -- when we'll get the first big indication of how Oilers fans are taking the return of the old number 89 -- will be tense ones. Oilers fans were unforgiving of Comrie during his contract hold out (which was actually precipitated equally by both sides of the dispute).

However, Comrie's return will make questions about who will play in the Oilers top six more pronounced -- particularly as it pertains centre.

As the rookie training camp winds down with tomorrow night's game against the Golden Bears at the Clare Drake Arena and regular training camp gets set to open, Shawn Horcoff, Sam Gagner, Mike Comrie and Andrew Cogliano will be competing for two spots at centre, with Gilbert Brule and Robbie Schremp looking to crack the lineup.

Ales Hemsky, Patrick O'Sullivan, Robert Nilsson, Dustin Penner and Jordan Eberle will be fighting over the remaining spots in the top six. That's a crowded pair of lines for Pat Quinn to decide.

Quinn's dilemma should be made easier by the fact that Shawn Horcoff and Sam Gagner can both also play on the wing -- although Horcoff will certainly be taking faceoffs nonetheless.

As the only Oiler centreman in the lineup to have cracked the 30-goal mark before (he's done it twice in his career, once as an Oiler), Comrie may even usurp Horcoff's spot as top centre (but no one should count on that).

If Oilers fans can get over the acrimony of 2003-04, Mike Comrie should prove to be a welcome addition to the Oilers.

For Now, This is Our Playoffs

Horcoff, Roloson to lead on Team Canada

With the Edmonton Oilers on the outside looking in -- for the third year straight -- the attention of Oilers fans should now be shifting toward the World Championships.

The World Championships have long been treated as Oilers brass as a stand-in for playoff hockey. And perhaps for good reason. The World Championship of Hockey are as close as hockey offers to a best-on-best format outside of the Olympics or the World Cup.

Horcoff and Roloson are two of just nine veteran team Canada hands on this year's squad, which favours youth over experience, yet somehow left Sam Gagner off the team.

Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff will certainly be looking toward Horcoff and Roloson to play leading roles on the team. Roloson is the most experienced goaltender in the tournament. For now he shares the crease with Josh Harding of the Predators and Chris Mason of the St Louis Blues.

While the World Championships may lack the glitz and glamour of the Stanley Cup playoffs, national pride is still on the line, which makes it all the more important for Canadians to watch, even despite the early-morning time slots of the games.