Hemsky / Horcoff Split Sparks Oilers

You’ve got to give Oilers Head Coach Pat Quinn credit. He may be old school, but he’s certainly willing to try something new.

Prior to last night’s thrilling win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Quinn split up the Oilers’ longtime duo of Ales Hemsky & Shawn Horcoff. The move paid immediate dividends with the Oilers’ new top line of Hemsky, Sam Gagner & Dustin Penner combining for 5 goals and 13 points in the 6-5 comeback victory. Given the trio’s immediate chemistry, it appears that the mad scientist masquerading as the Oilers’ head coach may have found lightning in a bottle. If Quinn has, not only will he have found his new top line, he’ll have solved the one problem that has plagued the Oilers organization for the better part of a decade.

For longer than most long suffering Oiler fans would care to admit, former GM Kevin Lowe and former Head Coach Craig MacTavish fostered the claim that Edmonton’s hockey club was one left winger away from contending for the Cup. This claim was predicated on the belief that C Shawn Horcoff & RW Ales Hemsky were a perfect pair with Horcoff’s hard one-timer and defensive grit forming the ideal compliment to Hemsky’s offensive dangle and defensive delinquency. With the Horcoff & Hemsky pairing thus established as sacrosanct (and with both signed to longterm contracts), the Oilers’ brass lurched from Petr Sykora to Dustin Penner to Erik Cole to Ales Kotalik in a never ending quest to find the missing ingredient for their ever elusive top line. It was a chemistry experiment that never achieved the spontaneous combustion the team was so desperately seeking.

Under Pat Quinn, the team has taken a different approach, an approach that has been as refreshing as it has been effective.

With Hemskey & Horcoff dying on the vine, both mired in season opening slumps, Quinn left them to sort it out, concentrating his energies instead on the team’s wealth of young talent. The results have been impressive with previous underachievers like Dustin Penner, Gilbert Brule, Sam Gagner & Ladislav Smid all coming to the fore under the tutelage and cajoling of their crusty old mentor. With his young core buying into the system, Quinn then set about revitalizing the moribund Hemsky, partnering him with the Oilers’ hottest two forwards in Penner & Gagner. The young line’s production was as immediate as it was impressive. Equal parts size, skill & youth, the unit will be looking to build on their promising debut as the club prepares for a week of “measuring stick” games in the week ahead against the likes of Calgary, Vancouver, Detroit and the resurgent Colorado Avalanche.

While Quinn’s accomplishments with individual players have been impressive,  the team results have been decidedly more uneven. While the Oilers are enjoying an offensive renaissance (tied for 2^nd overall in league scoring with 36 goals) and unexpected early season success (4^th overall in the league standings following last night’s contests), the team is not without its problems. As evidenced by the Oil’s second period collapse against Columbus, the team is often a train wreck in their own zone. Only the hated Flames have been outshot by a wider margin and without the early season heroics of Nikolai Khabibulin, it’s safe to assume the Oilers’ won/loss record would be far worse.

Despite their smoke & mirrors record however, there is optimism throughout Oiler Nation today:

• No longer does the team have to apologize for the Dustin Penner offer sheet. In fact, Kevin Lowe’s claim that the Penner signing would pay large dividends by the third year of the contract is now looking positively prescient.
• No longer does the team need to apologize for failing to land Dany Heatley. With Penner leading the team in goals and points & Ladislav Smid leading the club in plus/minus, the Dany Heatley Trade Analyzer is looking decidedly in the Oilers’ favor of late.
• No longer does the team need to apologize for not addressing its most pressing needs in the offeason. With this season’s turnaround being led by the two headed coaching tandem of Pat Quinn & Tom Renney and the superlative goaltending of Nikolai Khabibulin, even the team’s harshest critics would be forced to admit that Oilers GM Steve Tambellini’s offseason moves are paying huge dividends thus far.

If it all seems a bit much on the basis of a mere nine game blip, then welcome to the heartland of hockey where every move is dissected, bisected & trisected.

Is the Oilers’ new top line for real? Is Pat Quinn a line juggling genius? Is Dustin Penner the comeback story of the year? Is this the year the Bhulin Wall wins the Vezina?

Only the hockey gods know for sure, but one thing is certain, this grizzled old coach and his gritty young team are a combination worth watching and that alone is cause for celebration in hockey crazed Edmonton.

Some Other Articles That You May Enjoy:
Overlooked and Underrated: Ales Hemsky
It’s Feast or Famine for Oilers’ Offense
Dustin Penner Silences His Critics
Ales Hemsky Out With a Fever
Jagr to the Oilers?
The Oilers and the Trade Deadline

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