Oilers GM MacTavish sees progress in Edmonton

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish expects a quiet offseason compared to what he has gone through in previous summers because he said he has seen enough positives this season to believe the rebuild is moving along in the right direction.

MacTavish said this Tuesday knowing the Oilers recently lost seven consecutive games and are last in the Western Conference and 29th in the NHL, in front of only the Buffalo Sabres. Edmonton has 50 points through 70 games, which is nine points fewer than it had through 70 games last season.

"I know people question where the team is right now because of the fact that we have been here for quite some time, but really for me it looks like it's changing and turning around," MacTavish said at the NHL general managers' meetings. "I think it'll turn quickly once we get maybe another year of development under our belt with some of the guys like [Darnell] Nurse and [Leon] Draisaitl and [Oscar] Klefbom.

Craig MacTavish thinks things will change in Edmonton once players like Leon Draisaitl get another year of development under their belt. (Photo: Andy Devlin/NHLI)

"There's been tumultuous change in our organization over the last two summers and we've changed out maybe 10 or 11 players each year. This year we're going to be changing much less and that'll give the players familiarity coming back with what their roles are, and I think that will impact our start [next season]. Obviously we do need to make changes, we are deficient in areas. Some of that will be addressed through the draft. There are guys in the pipeline that are going to help. But I see the future being pretty good in Edmonton."

MacTavish cited the way the Oilers have been competitive in a lot of games as being a sign of good things happening.

Edmonton has played 37 one-goal games, seventh most in the NHL. The Oilers are only 13-12-12 in those games, but they do have wins against Stanley Cup Playoff contenders such as the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota Wild.

Last season, the Oilers were tied for last in the League in total one-goal games with 33 (Boston Bruins).

"I think even our most ardent critic would agree the team is playing much better," MacTavish said. "Even a couple months ago I said visually the team was better. There weren't a lot of tangible results in terms of our record, but we were much more competitive. That progress in a lot of ways I think has been really masked by just how far away we were last year. We not only lost last year, but we had virtually no chance in a lot of the games, especially against some of the more elite teams in the NHL. This year we're playing a much more competitive brand of hockey. We're playing a lot of good games against some of the elite teams in the League. And we've got a lot of good things happening in the pipeline."

MacTavish mentioned the season-ending injury to Taylor Hall on Feb. 2 as a debilitating factor in the season (he had 30 points through 42 games), but credited the improvement of Nail Yakupov, Oscar Klefbom and Anton Lander as positives.

He said Lander and Klefbom have benefited since Todd Nelson took over as interim coach for Dallas Eakins on Dec. 15. He had a great deal of praise for Yakupov, who has 26 points through 69 games this season after scoring 24 points in 63 games last season. Yakupov was a minus-33 last season and is currently minus-33 this season.

"He was rarely making a real positive decision with the puck, and now he very rarely makes a negative decision with the puck," MacTavish said of Yakupov. "He's got confidence. He's making more plays with the puck. He's doing things that he didn't do at the junior level, like getting pucks in deep when he needs to. He's getting to the forecheck. He's turning pucks over in the forecheck. He's hitting. And he's got a lot of confidence in his offensive game.

"The coach has trust in him and it's easy to have that trust and build that trust when you're seeing the type of execution he's delivering. So you give him the opportunity that he wasn't frankly deserving of before. He is now."

MacTavish said the Oilers management staff is still evaluating Nelson and hasn't decided if he will be the coach next season.

"My position hasn't changed at all," he said. "When we brought Todd up on an interim basis he was going to be the interim coach until the end of the year and potentially a little bit beyond that. We'll get together and evaluate the job that he's done and see where we go from there."

MacTavish also wouldn't promise roster spots to Nurse and Draisaitl for next season. Nurse was Edmonton's first-round pick in 2013 (No. 7); Draisaitl was the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.

"Our assessment of those guys, and anybody that comes in from this point forward, is you're going to have to really knock it out of the park in training camp to start on our team," MacTavish said. "I don't want to say that they won't, but at the same time I think the American Hockey League is a very good stepping stone to the National Hockey League. If you're going to make mistakes and there are going to be growing pains we want to make sure that it's done down there, and when they do come up here they're ready to play and ready to be dominant forces, much like we're seeing in Klefbom."

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