Oilers' Eakins on young team: 'The problem with evolution and maturity is it takes time'

The Edmonton Oilers have been stuck in a perpetual rebuilding state for eight years. During that time, the organization has become excellent at misusing veteran assets, over-hyping young prospects, and selling hope - but they haven't quite figured out the part where they actually win NHL hockey games just yet.

Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins believes that the team is close to turning the corner, but he still preached patience ahead of his club's game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

"The problem with evolution and maturity is it takes time," Eakins said, according to Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province. "You’d like to flip the switch but it doesn’t work that way.

"I think a lot of people in hockey and in Canada forget how young they are and I’m as guilty of it as anyone."

The Oilers are still taking baby steps towards respectability, but at least this fall they were able to pull themselves out of their usual October death spiral. They go into Saturday's game against the Canucks having won four of their past five games.

"I see such a difference from this season to last season," said checking forward Matt Hendricks - a faceoff and shootout specialist, with a reputation for being vocal in the dressing room. "There’s more maturity in the room; more of the young guys showing a leadership role.

"You see it in a lot of ways but the big thing is they’re showing up every day with the feeling they want to play against the top lines and the top players."

Playing against top lines and top players will be particularly crucial for the Oilers on Saturday night, when they face a Canucks top line that has torched them in two previous meetings this season (both losses). In those two games, Vancouver's top forward line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Radim Vrbata have combined for 13 total points.

Eakins believes he has a winning game plan that might frustrate the twins, and wants to see his club close gaps on them aggressively on Saturday night:

Mastering a Canucks team that no longer ranks among the NHL's elite, but has terrorized the Oilers for much of the past decade, would likely be another positive step forward on the long road to maturity.