In addition to McDavid and Draisaitl, he mentioned 26-year-old center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who set NHL career highs with 28 goals, 41 assists and 69 points in 82 games, and 24-year-old defenseman Darnell Nurse, Edmonton's first-round pick (No. 7) in the 2013 NHL Draft, who set NHL career highs with 10 goals, 31 assists and 41 points. Nugent-Hopkins played for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 when Tippett was an assistant to McLellan.
Tippett's enthusiasm will be tested next season. The Oilers must make major strides to return to the playoffs.
Their goal-scoring was particularly top-heavy this season. Four players -- McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins and forward Alex Chiasson (NHL career-high 21 goals) -- accounted for 141 of Edmonton's 229 goals (61.6 percent). It will be Holland's area to address first with roster moves before Tippett tries to fit the pieces together in training camp.
Tippett also will need to install a more reliable defensive structure. Edmonton allowed 271 goals, tied with the New Jersey Devils for the sixth most in the NHL. (To that end, the Oilers presumably will acquire an NHL-level goalie to join Mikko Koskinen, the only goalie with experience in the League signed for next season.)
Tippett believes he can do both and disputed the notion that he is a rigid defensive specialist. He said his first NHL coaching job, with the Stars in 2002-03, came about after he was an assistant with the Los Angeles Kings in charge of a power play that led the NHL at 20.7 percent in 2001-02.
"I laugh at that [label] all the time," said Tippett, who coached the Coyotes to the Western Conference Final in 2012. "My first job in the NHL I actually got from (current St. Louis Blues GM) Doug Armstrong in Dallas because I was an offensive coach. Doug hired me because he thought I could work more creativity and offense.
"Then I went to Arizona and we had to figure out how to win without those high-end scorers, so we figured out how to win in Arizona with character and grit and good defense and good goaltending. So I don't look at myself as a defensive coach or an offensive coach. I look at myself as a coach that tries to find a way to win with the people I have."
Lead photo courtesy of Marko Ditkun/Edmonton Oilers