Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Out Of the Dark Comes a Blinding Light


For once in recent memory the Oilers were the absolute best at something in the NHL. The best at being the worst. This may come as a concern or problem to many a fan, however this is the devastating flood before a breathtaking rainbow appears, or the fire which leads to colorful and numerous blooming flowers. Something very good is going to be coming after something very bad.

The circle of life, we maybe at the bottom of the circle, but soon enough we'll be on our climb towards the top. It will be a long and arduous climb, but a climb that had to start from the lowest point that this franchise has ever seen. Soon enough the Oilers will have a new face of the franchise, not because we have no one better, but because we will have finally gotten someone that other teams and their fans would kill to have.

How many years have we sat and watched as Ovechkin, Crosby, Kane, Stamkos, and Tavares have come into the league while the best that we can sport is a guy with the talent but not the total package to be a superstar (Hemsky), or a guy that would only be seen as a franchise player by a mediocre to weak team (Gagner). Finally we can be the ones that get to stand up, proud of our young star in the making come the draft.

The older generation got to see Gretz, Mess, Kurri, Coffey, Anderson, Fuhr, and the list goes on and on. Although I am as old as the NHL team, I have never seen these types of players on the club because of where I was born and raised. The best that I've seen is Pronger, Weight, Smyth, Guerin, Cujo, and Hemsky. Some good to great players in their own rites, but outside of Pronger, none of them were worthy of building a team around. And definitely not for a decade or better because Pronger was already a long time NHL vet when he came to Edmonton.

This is a new start, a chance for the next generation of fans to see potential greatness. In a city starved for a hockey star, we are on the verge of getting one. Hall or Seguin, it doesn't much matter which player joins our club in June, with their arrival a new era in Oilers hockey will begin. With some luck we will give them some help with some trades at the draft to move way up in the draft, or next season we could see another young superstar in the making on their way to The City Of Champions if we are once again among the NHL's elite at losing games.

Just remember that we need to be patient with this young player, but at least for once we can see flashes of brilliance as we try to remain patient. It's been a long time coming, but it is finally on the horizon. Hope is coming in the form of an eighteen year old kid. It may not be immediate, but at least we won't have to be chasing after ghosts in the off season year after year to try and get a franchise level talent.

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