EDMONTON, AB - It's the closest thing you'll get to Christmas in October.
Hockey, and the Edmonton Oilers, are back.
It's Opening Night in the NHL, and Oilers players hit the pillow last night knowing all the effort they put in both on and off the ice during Training Camp and Pre-Season will be put to the test in Game 1 of the regular season tonight when they play host to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place.
"Opening Night is like Christmas morning for us," Darnell Nurse, a newly-named Alternate Captain for the club on Tuesday, said pre-game. "You wake up with a big smile on your face, but Game 1 is an opportunity to set the tone for the whole season. That's the approach we have coming into tonight."
Oilers Head Coach Dave Tippett looked forward to an extended Camp with his new group when GM & President of Hockey Operation Ken Holland recruited the bench boss as the club's 16th head coach in late May, but couldn't do anything other than share his players' sentiments about the return of the regular season.
"I said to some people earlier: when you start Training Camp with a new group, you feel like it's not long enough," Tippett said from the Oilers Hall of Fame Room. "Now, I feel like it was way too long. It's time to get going, and that's how we feel this morning. I think the players excited to play and get this thing going, and we've prepared well and I like the way our team has prepared in Camp. Let's see how we do tonight."
Captain Connor McDavid's lengthy off-season recovery from a PCL tear has coincided with a formative summer for the Oilers headlined by big-name additions in goaltender Mike Smith and forward James Neal, who'll start alongside McDavid on the top line with newcomer Joakim Nygard - the speedy Swede set to make his NHL debut along with centre Gaëtan Haas.
"It's obviously just new faces all over the room in every position, coaches, management, so that's new," McDavid said. "Just a little bit of a different feel to it. Some older guys, some more voice in the room which is nice, so definitely a different feel."
The aforementioned Smith, a veteran of 13 NHL seasons with Dallas, Arizona and Calgary, gets the start between the pipes tonight in his first game for his new club and his first opportunity to make an impression on a new fanbase.
"It's one thing when you're on the same team every year, but I think going to a new team and seeing the excitement around a new city and a new organization is always special - especially being in a Canadian market and club like Edmonton with so much history," Smith said. "I'm super excited to get in there tonight and hopefully help this team have a great year, and obviously the fans should be excited about the group we have in here today."
The time for players and coaches to reflect on a formative Camp has past, and the time for them to begin the long haul towards Game 82 and beyond is now.
"As you look around the room and go through Camp, there's been a lot of growth and a lot of change obviously within the systems and within the personnel," Nurse added. "But there's been a lot of growth within the group and there's a lot of excitement. We know what we're capable of and that starts here tonight with our work ethic."
THE FIRST LOOK
With the defensive corps settled with the inclusion of Ethan Bear on a pairing with Oscar Klefbom, the attention turned to Tippett's task of assembling the forward lines and choosing a netminder for opening night.
With an established history with Smith and a desire for a different look, Tippett is leaning on the familiar.
"I liked what I saw. I have a history with him and I understand where he's coming from," Tippett said. "I Just think in Game 1, we're looking for something different from a lot of different players. We got some different players and Mike is a different goaltender and a different look from last year to start the year."
