The Edmonton Oilers now are center Connor McDavid's team.
The No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft became the de facto leader of the Oilers when left wing Taylor Hall was traded to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Adam Larsson on June 29.
On Oct. 5 the Oilers formalized it, naming McDavid captain. At 19 years, 266 days old, he became the youngest captain in NHL history.
McDavid won't be alone in his attempt to turn around the Oilers, who have not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the past 10 seasons. He will have a strong supporting cast after second-year general manager Peter Chiarelli continued to revamp the roster.
The Oilers added three major pieces to a team loaded with young talent which has yet to reach its full potential. Edmonton felt fortunate to be able to select Finnish right wing Jesse Puljujarvi at the 2016 NHL Draft. Puljujarvi (6-foot-4, 203 pounds), 18, was considered a top-three prospect, but the Oilers were able to take him with the No. 4 pick after the Columbus Blue Jackets selected center Pierre-Luc Dubois at No. 3.
Chiarelli then made his boldest move to date as Oilers GM, trading Hall for Larsson, designed to help Edmonton fill a void for a puck-moving, right-shot defenseman who can play top-pairing minutes.
Initially, the trade was very unpopular in Edmonton; Hall was the Oilers leading scorer and a fan favorite. But the disappointment was short-lived when Chiarelli signed unrestricted free agent left wing Milan Lucic to a seven-year, $42 million contract on July 1, helping ease the loss of Hall.
Lucic, 28, is part of a bigger, stronger group of forwards assembled by Chiarelli to compete in the heavy Western Conference. With Lucic (6-3, 233), the roster also includes physical forwards Patrick Maroon (6-3, 230), Zack Kassian (6-3, 217) and Matt Hendricks (6-0, 207). The Oilers still have plenty of offensive talent with McDavid, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot and Leon Draisaitl.
The Oilers subtracted forward Nail Yakupov from that group, trading him to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 7 for minor-league forward Zach Pochio and a conditional third-round pick in the 2017 draft. Yakupov, the first pick of the 2012 draft, had eight goals and 23 points in 60 games last season.
Defensively, Larsson will be expected to play a lot of minutes for the Oilers and is likely to be used against the opposition's top line.
Larsson likely will start the season on the Oilers' top pair with Oscar Klefbom, 23, who returns after missing the second half of last season with a broken finger and then a staph infection in his foot.
Kris Russell, 29, signed a one-year contract Oct. 7 to join Andrej Sekera, 30, as veteran mentors for an otherwise young defense with Darnell Nurse, 21 and Brandon Davidson, 25 expected to play significant roles.
