Todd McLellan was officially announced Tuesday as the Oilers' new coach, taking over an intriguing team that already had plenty of young talent and will soon be adding uber-prospect Connor McDavid with the top pick in the NHL draft.
The fans in Edmonton are understandably excited about the addition of McDavid to a young corps that includes talented forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov. But McLellan, speaking at his introductory press conference, reminded everyone that there's much work to be done after a season in which the Oilers finished with the league's third-worst record and allowed the most goals in the NHL (283).
"We're not going to talk about playoffs here," McLellan said, apparently trying to keep expectations in check for his first season. "We’re going to talk about building a foundation."
That would certainly be a start. And while it'd be easy to assert that the Oilers already have a foundation in place given the abundance of previous No. 1 overall picks they have at their disposal, they obviously have a long way to go; McDavid's addition almost certainly won't be sufficient by itself on a team that still looks to be badly in need of help on the blue line and in net.
And McLellan knows it. Ultimately, it's not a 2015-16 postseason berth that matters to him or the Oilers; it's continuing to progress in the coming years to the point that McLellan and his team can talk Stanley Cup, not just Stanley Cup playoffs.
Photo credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
