EDMONTON, alberta — Rexall Place, home of the Edmonton Oilers since 1974, is in its final season of NHL existence. Avalanche coach Patrick Roy has fond memories of the big old barn that is a relic in major-league hockey circles.
“I loved to play here. I don’t know if I had a lot of success, but I enjoyed playing here,” Hall of Famer Roy said Saturday before the Avs played the Oilers at the concrete-heavy arena. “At the start of my career, they had such a good team, with (Wayne) Gretzky, (Mark) Messier and all those guys. It was fun to play here. I guess it’s time for a new building.”
The new Rogers Arena will replace Rexall Place next season. There are tentative plans to gut Rexall Place and turn it into a six- or seven-sheet hockey and ice skating facility for the community. The two-story complex would allow spectators from the top floor to watch games or skating events on the lower floor. Artists renderings of the facility are awesome.
But in Rogers Arena’s contract with the city, it states Rexall Place can no longer be a sports or entertainment complex. The verbiage is expected to be changed or it will prevent the renovation.
Morning off. Despite Saturday’s 8 p.m. start to accommodate the Hockey Night in Canada telecast, the Avs did not have a morning skate at Rexall Place. Roy is still trying to prevent morning skates when the team has a good practice the day before. The Avs did just that at home on Friday before flying to Edmonton.
“I would prefer not having morning skates, but when you have games almost every other day, you’d like to give the guys a full day off,” Roy said. “But here, we also didn’t skate because of the back-to-back and playing Vancouver (on Sunday).”
New lines. Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog, a natural left winger, played right wing with center Nathan MacKinnon and Alex Tanguay against the Oilers. Roy also moved regular fourth-line left winger Cody McLeod to Carl Soderberg’s line, with right winger Blake Comeau.
Matt Duchene remained at center, between Mikhail Grigorenko (left) and Jarome Iginla (right), and the fourth line was center John Mitchell with wingers Andreas Martinsen and Jack Skille.
The healthy scratches were forward Chris Wagner and defenseman Zach Redmond. Mike Chambers, The Denver Post