EDMONTON — That Kris Versteeg walked out of Edmonton Oilers camp and stepped right into the Calgary Flames Opening Night lineup was, we hope, a portent of sorts.
It has been a long while since the two Alberta teams competed for anything other than draft position. Maybe the stakes will rise from here.
The Flames officially open Edmonton’s brand new Rogers Place tonight, with Wayne Gretzky and the usual reminders of long-past successes on hand. Today, Calgary has won six of the past seven season series between the teams, and the Battle of Alberta might be a good name for a book (heh, heh), but hardly describes the rivalry anymore.
Yet somehow this season seems like a place to restart The Battle, a year when all the hockey misery that has befallen this province (especially up North) might begin to be forgotten.
In Edmonton, the new rink just might be the finest in the National Hockey League, while it seems only a mater of time until the new captain — Connor McDavid — surely is. The Oilers needed to beef up their D-corps with two legit NHL defencemen over the summer and GM Peter Chiarelli delivered Adam Larsson and Kris Russell, to go with hulking winger Milan Lucic and 6-foot-3 draft pick Jesse Puljujarvi, who may or may not be ready for prime time.
“I think we’re ready,” depth centreman Mark Letestu said. “We’ve wanted to get this group together, start playing in this building when the bullets are flying for real. Guys are just ready.”
The coach, of course, has one improvement in mind: “The players are excited about their new home here,” said Todd McLellan, “but they’ll enjoy it a lot more of we put some victories up on the board.”
In Calgary there is much reason for optimism: A new, proven goalie in Brian Elliott; a superstar signed long-term in Johnny Gaudreau; the maturation of power forward Sam Bennett and an 18-year-old who made the grade in Matthew Tkachuk.
But getting the hold-out Gaudreau signed in time for Opening Night was a must, and general manager Brad Treliving put his foot on the gas to pull off a six-year, $40.5 million deal that makes the little winger a Flame for what should be his most productive years.
“Go back over time,” Treliving advised. “There are very few players — it’s a very short list — of guys who accomplished what he has production-wise over his first two years.”
The 23-year-old Gaudreau had 143 points (55 goals) in his first 160 games. He is as exciting a player as the Flames have had since Theo Fleury, and the kind of guy who drives a 5-4 game, rather the 2-1 or 3-2 results that are most common these days.
McDavid, who is just 19, had 48 points in his 45-game, injury-shortened rookie season last year. He’s got the ‘C’ on his chest, a team on his shoulders, and McDavid is well aware that winning four of 12 games in October last season was the beginning of the end for the Oilers.
“Look at (the standings) around American Thanksgiving,” McDavid points out. “They’re often times the teams that (end up) at the top.”
So it starts tonight in Alberta. The Oilers have missed the playoffs for 10 straight years, while the Flames have made it once in the past seven springs.
Put the lineups next to each other, and we’re going to say we like the Oilers forward group a tad more, though the Flames defence is decisively better.
In goal, whom do you prefer? The much travelled 31-year-old Brian Elliott, who lugged his St. Louis Blues to a Western Conference Final only last spring? Or Cam Talbot, who started slowly last season, but from Dec. 15 on was one of the better goalies in the entire NHL.
If goaltending and defence wins championships, the Flames — who might have two No. 1 defencemen in Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie — are well ahead of Edmonton. If having the best player on the ice every time the two teams meet is more important, then your money would be on the Oilers over the next decade or so at least.
Frankly, what we can all agree on is that a Battle of Alberta in April or May is what we truly seek, something fans haven’t been treated to since 1991.
That’s 25 years since these two provincial rivals dropped a puck in the post season. A quarter century.
A new rink. Some new stars. A new page.
It starts tonight in Alberta. You’ll want to watch.
