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traded for Moulson last season. Scott Cullen can be reached

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The Edmonton Oilers are hoping their young stars are ready to go to the next level while the Flames are hoping to rebound from an opening night loss to the Vancouver Canucks as the two teams collide in Edmonton tonight. Devan Dubnyk Jersey . Edmonton has not been to the playoffs since reaching the Stanley Cup Final as an upstart eighth seed in 2006. Since then, the Oilers have invested a number of high draft picks into their future and are finally looking to cash in. Tonights roster will feature three players taken with the top pick: Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012). Hall has been the best of the bunch so far, notching a club-high 80 points in 75 games last year off 27 goals and 53 assists. Also expected to dress tonight for the Oilers will be 18-year-old forward Leon Draisaitl, the third overall pick of the 2014 draft, though defenseman Darnell Nurse, taken seventh overall in 2013, is expected to be a healthy scratch. General manager Craig MacTavish, who took over for the fired Steve Tambellini in April, has already begun to alter his roster, a makeover that started at last seasons trade deadline. MacTavish dealt center Sam Gagner to Tampa Bay for gritty forward Teddy Purcell and signed forward Benoit Pouliot to a five-year deal after Pouliot notched 36 points in 80 games with the New York Rangers last season before adding another five goals and 10 points in 25 playoff contests. While young defenseman Nurse and Oscar Klefbom watch as scratches, blueliners Nikita Nikitin and Mark Fayne are in line to make their Edmonton debuts and hope to add stability to a unit that used 14 different defensemen a season ago. Ben Scrivens, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in January, will get the start in net on opening night for the Oilers. He is 0-1-0 in two games (1 start) versus the Flames, giving up five goals on 35 shots. Viktor Fasth is expected to start on Saturday in Vancouver for Edmonton. The Flames will play for a second straight night after beginning their season at home on Wednesday with a 4-2 loss to the Canucks. Paul Byron and Jiri Hudler lit the lamp in the second period for Calgary, which lost its eighth straight game against Vancouver. Jonas Hiller allowed three goals on 32 shots in his first game with the Flames. We have a young team and were going to learn, Calgary head coach Bob Hartley said. Its too bad because in the third I felt like thats where we played our best hockey. Center Sean Monahan was a game-time decision last night for the Flames due to illness, but ended up logging nearly 18 minutes of ice time versus the Canucks and had an assist. The Flames begin a six-game road trip tonight with Karri Ramo in net. He has split two previous games against the Oilers with a 2.53 goals against average and .928 save percentage. Calgary has also made two line-up changes for tonight. Raphael Diaz will replace Dennis Wideman on defence while David Jones will play up front in place of Brian McGrattan. The Flames won three of five versus the Oilers last season as the home team lost all five encounters. Edmontons Jordan Eberle has 20 points in 21 career games versus Calgary. Charlie Coyle Wild Jersey . Those cheers seemed more special this time because the captains run on Broadway could soon be over. The adoration surely sounded much nicer to Callahan than all the recent trade talk. Jason Zucker Wild Jersey . Its great to be back for another season in Banditland, and Im looking forward to another competitive season with my teammates, said Tavares.The Buffalo Sabres liked Matt Moulson so much, after he played 44 games for them last season, that they brought him back as a prize free agent this summer. Numbers Game looks at the Sabres bringing in a veteran winger to help their rebuilding plan. The Sabres Get: LW Matt Moulson. Moulson is a 30-year-old winger who was a three-time 30-goal scorer while skating on John Tavares wing, yet there are signs of decline creeping in. While he scored 23 goals and 51 points in 75 games last season, Moulsons shots on goal per game was down to 2.35, after a career-best 3.28 shots on goal per game in 2012-2013. He had three points in 10 playoff games before oblique and groin injuries knocked him out of the lineup. Over the course of his career, Moulson has been a mediocre possession player, which has generally meant good relative numbers while playing for bad teams, Going back to Buffalo, where he had 11 goals and 29 points in 44 games last season, Moulson should be looking at prime ice time, playing first line and power play, because hes one of the few on the roster that has been a consistent goal-scorer in the NHL. Given the supporting cast, it will be tough for Moulson to get bback to the 30-goal level that was becoming customary with the Islanders, but the Sabres scored a league-low 1. Jason Zucker Jersey. 83 goals per game last season, so any offensive contribution will be welcomed. Theres also a decent chance that, by the end of this five-year, $25-million deal, the Sabres wont be thrilled about the production they are getting from Moulson, as his goal-scoring production is likely to decline as he heads towards his mid-thirties, but whats the real downside? The Sabres are probably a bad team for at least a couple more years and if the supporting cast gets better, as it should, then maybe Moulson can still produce secondary offence as the Sabres eventually become more competitive. In the short-term, the next couple of seasons, if Moulson could hit for 25 goals and 50 points per season, then that would have to be considered very successful. The Wild made up for the loss of Moulson by signing free agent Thomas Vanek who, coincidentally enough, was traded for Moulson last season. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '