The Edmonton Oilers have gone 10 seasons without a playoff appearance, employed seven head coaches, won the draft lottery four times and lost 488 of 704 games.Yet the only number that matters now is 97.Thats the number on the sweater of generational talent Connor McDavid, whos going into his second NHL season and leading the Oilers into a new era in their new arena. Edmonton will play the first regular-season game at sparkling Rogers Place against the rival Calgary Flames on Oct. 12, raising the curtain on a fresh start for an organization in need of one.Rogers Place isnt the arena McDavid built, though it should be the scene for the 19-year-olds rapid ascent as one of hockeys brightest stars.He kind of adds another level of excitement, center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. Its pretty cool with the new building and everything. Its all kind of coming together at the right time, so now weve just got to go out there and perform, obviously. Its exciting the direction that were heading. Connor is going to be a big part of that. Its going to be fun.Winning the 2015 draft lottery to get McDavid set into motion big changes for the Oilers organization, including the hiring of Peter Chiarelli as general manager. This offseason, Chiarelli signed big power forward Milan Lucic, traded Taylor Hall for defenseman Adam Larsson and drafted Finnish winger Jesse Puljujarvi to complement McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, winger Jordan Eberle, center Leon Draisaitl and defenseman Darnell Nurse -- all first-round picks.A broken collarbone limited McDavid to 45 games in his rookie season, though he still incredibly put up 48 points and was a finalist for the Calder Trophy. He may have a big, new linemate in the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Lucic, who signed a $42 million, seven-year deal to score goals, dish out assists and hits, and serve as something of McDavids bodyguard for some of his prime seasons.The first thing that stands out about him is just how big he is, McDavid said of Lucic. I didnt know he was that big. Hes a great skater and can really shoot the puck. I think hes definitely going to be a great asset for us.Pencil Lucic in on McDavids left wing and put it in ink that the pride of Newmarket, Ontario, will be the youngest captain in NHL history at 19 years, 273 days old when he wears the C for the first time.Here are some other things to watch with the Oilers this season:LIGHTS, CAM, TALBOTGoaltender Cam Talbot enters the first season of his $12.5 million, three-year deal needing to prove he deserves to be a franchise goaltender. After a rough start last season, the former New York Rangers backup had a 2.37 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in his final 40 games. Edmonton would like Talbot to put up those kinds of performances behind a work-in-progress defense and steal some games along the way.THE BIG GERMANLeon Draisaitl could be a matchup nightmare for opponents as the third-line center behind McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins. Stanley Cup-caliber teams are built down the middle and on the back end, and the Oilers are well on their way if the slick, big 20-year-old German continues to adjust to the NHL.MCLELLAN MAGICThe Todd McLellan-coached, star-studded 23-and-under Team North America dazzled at the World Cup with the kind of fast, exciting hockey that had fans drooling about the future of the sport. He has McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins in Edmonton, too, but knows he cant play that kind of up-and-down, blistering pace for 82 NHL games.Well continue to coach with the same concepts, McLellan said. The team that we have in Edmonton is a really good team but not at the same talent level, and thats natural.DEFENSE UNDER CONSTRUCTIONChiarelli has worked to remake the Oilers blue line by acquiring Larsson and signing Andrej Sekera in the summer of 2015, but its still not at a playoff level. The development of Nurse and 23-year-old Oscar Klebom is essential to that, and it could take another offseason of moves.REPLACING HALLGetting Larsson from the New Jersey Devils cost Edmonton its leading scorer in Hall, who had 26 goals and 65 points last season. The Oilers may be better in the long run after dealing Hall, but theyll have to make up for his production somewhere. Hint: Keep McDavid healthy.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno Stitched Hurricanes Jerseys . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Hurricanes Jerseys 2020 . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. https://www.cheaphurricanes.com/ . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. Carolina Hurricanes Pro Shop . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. Carolina Hurricanes Shirts . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn dismissed Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Leodis McKelvins description of the Falcons as a front-runner on Monday.We are for damn sure not going to allow anyone else to determine our team identity, Quinn told reporters. Weve got a tough outfit. We know what we stand for as a club, and well leave it at that.After the Eagles?24-15 victory?over the Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field, McKelvin said Philadelphias defense saw a weakness to exploit against Atlanta, which boasted the NFLs top offense.I was telling the defense, this is the type of team, they are a front-runner. They are a front-running team, McKelvin said. If you go out there and make some stops, they eventually are going to be dying down.Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen echoed Quinns thoughts that the Falcons dont dwell on opinions outside their building in comments to ESPNs Vaughn McClure.Everybodys got thheir opinion, man.dddddddddddd Theres always going to be someone who comes out and says something to try and challenge another team, Allen told ESPN. We dont worry about people on the outside. We dont worry about nobody else. We just worry about ourselves. We worry about who we are as a team because we know who we are. And we know when were playing really good ball, were one of the best around.We stay in our locker room. We dont worry about when anybody else talks about us. We dont even bring that stuff up. I didnt even hear about [McKelvins comments], so I dont even really care about that stuff. You can talk all you want to. Have fun with that. I aint with the talking. I play ball. I just want to play ball, man.The NFC South-leading Falcons (6-4) have a bye this week. ' ' '