12 Angry...er...Oilers

I'll just say this is for me to counter-act the "Hot Oil" blog :)

Reading Lowetide's blog recently he was comparing the Oilers forward group for this year to the group during the 1984-85 season.

Obviously there's no one on this team in the league of Gretzky, Kuri or Messier. They're all first ballot hall of famers and among the most elite scorers of all time.

However, when it comes to pure scoring depth, I'm not sure if we've had forwards this good since Gretzky left town. I don't think the team has ever had this much depth at forward. Frankly, I don't think any team in the NHL has this much depth at forward.

There are teams who can certainly argue their top 6 are better, but top 12? I don't think so.

Smyth Horcoff Hemsky
Lupul Stoll Sykora
Torres Reasoner Pisani
Moreau Schremp/Pouliot/Mihknov/Jacques/Thoreson/Winchester?

Who can compete with the scoring depth this team will have?

The Senators are a team I may have mentioned, but now Havlat is gone and they have...

Heatley Spezza Alfresson
Schaefer Kaygorodov Eaves
Vermette Fisher Neil
McAmmond Kelly McGratton

An impressive group with a lot of skill, but not near the proven scoring depth we have.

Other teams with good scoring depth? The Flyers, Hurricanes, Sabres (though they took a hit losing Dumont) and I don't know who else I'd point to frankly. The Habs are pretty good as well.

Most other top tier teams have a very good top 6, but can they touch our third and fourth line scoring?

Some may point out that the fourth line I'm talking about depends a lot (potentially) on rookies.

Well, it doesn't have to necessarily. You can move Reasoner down to the 4th line with Moreau and a rookie. Then put either Pouliot or Schremp in between Torries and Pisani.

The other thing is that even if say one or two of the rookies doesn't play well - I think it's a big stretch to think that NONE of the 4 or 5 guys who could win spots in the lineup will work out. They all have a pretty good scoring history elsewhere, and it's hard to imagine none of them will contribute this season.

Perhaps I have my homer glasses on, but I'd say when it comes to 4 complete lines who can score - there's no team that can touch us. Hey, when you look at who made the final four in the NHL this year, scoring depth had a lot to do with it. I think it's a great way to go, and I'm looking forward to a fun year.