Its August 18th, 2015, The Toronto Blue Jays are in the thick of a Pennant Chase, 23 years since there was a Major League Baseball post season game was held North of the Border. But quite aways West of the Big Smoke, there is another franchise that has gone without for sometime, its been 9 years since the Edmonton Oilers last seen a playoff game. It is a bitter memory for many fans, losing in the Stanley Cup Final in 2005-06, there last visit to the NHL Playoffs. Current Scout, then coach Craig MacTavish was behind the bench at the time. After getting by the Red Wings in 6, Shark in 6 and the Ducks in 5... the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Oilers in 7.
Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth were the offensive forces while Chris Pronger and Steve Staios were the stalwards on defense. During the playoffs, a surprise hero in Fernando Pisani emerged, scoring 14 goals in 24 games while goalie Dwayne Roloson held to fort or the net so to speak. Nothing is left of that 05-06 group, but anticipation is high with the recent draft of Connor McDavid and youngsters like Darnell Nurse, Nail Yakupov and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Its time to take advantage of this young crop of talent, and not make it 10 years with out a playoff game in the City of Champions.