Welcome to NHL season review: a brand new series that will breakdown every NHL team this off season. You can expect to see a new post everyday until the end of July, starting from the 30^th place team, and finishing with the Stanley Cup champions. With so many changes coming in the off season, some teams will be improving dramatically, while others will be forced to make some tough decisions for the future. It’s going to be a fun month of hockey talk, so sit down, hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

 Year in Review

 2014-2015 Stats

• Record: 24-44-14
• Goals per game: 2.35 (26^th)
• Goals against per game: 3.37 (30^th)
• Power play: 17.7% (19^th)
• Penalty kill: 76.6 (28^th)
• Shots per game: 28.4 (26^th)
• Shots against per game: 30.0 (20^th)

The Edmonton Oilers have been in a rebuilding mode since the end of the 2009-10 season but have made little, if any, progress in becoming a playoff team. The Oilers have stockpiled first overall picks the last six seasons—drafting first overall four times—yet they continue to finish at the bottom of the Western Conference year after year. Despite finish 28^th in the NHL last season, Edmonton once again won the draft lottery and selected Erie Otter superstar Connor McDavid, who is expected to be the next big thing in the NHL. For fans, patience is starting to grow thin with the rebuilding progress and many believe this is the year where their beloved team takes the next step. With so many talented players on one team, it’s only a matter of time before everything starts to click.

The Oilers decided to make some changes to their front office, adding former San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan and former Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. The hope is that both men will be able to bring a fresh perspective to a team that has lacked leadership in the last few years, and hopefully, return to a winning franchise. Chiarelli inherited an overly–talented team with quite a few holes on defense and in nets, but the expectation is he’ll be able to plug those holes this off season and make his team competitive for the upcoming season.

The Oilers GM wasted no time getting work, acquiring a much-needed goalie on draft day from the New York Rangers. The Rangers sent goalie Cam Talbot to Edmonton in exchange for three picks in the draft (picks 57, 79 and 184). Talbot had a very successful season with New York, posting a 21-9-4 record with a 2.21 GAA and a .926 SV%. With so many NHL teams looking for goaltending, Talbot became one of the most sought after goalies before draft day. The question now becomes: can Talbot handle the pressure of being a number one goalie in the NHL? The-28-year-old has only played 59 games in the NHL and is heading to a team that gave up the most goals per game in the league last season (yes, more than Buffalo).

Not to be forgotten in all this is Ben Scrivens, who played the majority of Edmonton’s games last season, finishing the year with a 15-26-11 record in 57 games. Before coming over to Edmonton via trade, Scrivens had had success in limited action with the Kings and was expected to be the starter of the future. Both goalies will have the chance to battle for the starting job in training camp, but if neither goalie is able to establish themselves as a true number one, it may be another long season for the Oilers and their goalies.

The second priority for Chiarelli was defense. The team struggled nightly to keep the puck out of their net, leaving their goalie out to dry on multiple occasions. Once again, Chiarelli wasted no time adding players to boost his defensive core, adding Griffin Reinhart from the New York Islanders. Reinahrt—drafted fourth overall by the Islanders back in 2012—played eight games for the Islanders this season. For a highly talented defenseman, he was never able to crack the Islander starting lineup, so New York decided to get what they could for him and move on. The Oilers gave up the 16^th and 33^rd picks in the draft to obtain Reinhart, so expectations for him to perform will be high.

The Oilers didn’t stop there, as they signed veteran defenseman Andrej Sekera to a six-year deal worth $33 million on Wednesday. Sekera was dealt to the Kings last season from Carolina at the trade deadline, where he recorded four points (1G, 3A) in 16 games. He will be counted on to help solidify the back end and bring some veteran leadership to a team that is in desperate need of some.

Offensively, the Oilers are set. With players like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov and now Connor McDavid, you can’t ask for a better core of young players. The talent is there, but without any structure, they’ve failed to live up to their full potential so far.

Yakupov is one player looking forward to this upcoming season. The 1^st overall pick in 2012 had a difficult season last year, recording only 33 points (14G, 29A) in 81 games while finishing a team worst -35. It hasn’t been a smooth transition for Yakupov in the NHL, but the hope is with some added leadership and an experienced coach behind the bench, the 21-year-old will find his game and live up to his expected potential.

As for the rest of the offense, the hope is that coach McLellan will be able to implement a structured system to help the Oilers play a better team game. With so many young, skilled players, the task will definitely be a challenge, but not impossible. If he can convince his players that the best way to win is to sacrifice some individual skill for a more complete team game, the Oilers have a chance at become a better hockey team next season.

There’s no question the Oilers are a better team today than they were at the end of the season, but there still remains quite a few questions to be answered. The city of Edmonton deserves a winning hockey team and the fans have definitely waited long enough. It’s time for management and players to get the job done a play up to their potential, before fans get tired of watching their team lose and more changes coming along.