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is providing an offensive spark; he now has 17 points in 25 games, including a team-leading eight goals. (AP Photo> in Ottawa...it's a fun time to be a fan. But, let's make no mistake here; the team is likely to continue the roller coaster and, at least for now, it's way premature to expect this success to roll on for the remaining 57 games. This time last year the Oilers rolled home from a five basketball games game road swing having won every game, capped off with a comeback win in St. Louis. I hate to be the Ghost of Season's Past, but the team returned home to lose four in a row and would win just once in their next 21 games. There are too many differences to list between this year and last, but the lesson should still ring true: keep the expectations low. The three wins on the road don't signal the e basketball games nd of the rebuild, as positive as the signs might be.After last night's game, a caller on 630 CHED's Overtime Openline show referred to the win in Toronto not only as a decisive victory on the scoresheet, but also a victory of ideology. Perhaps an exaggeration based on one regular season meeting, I thought it was still a very intriguing point given the wide variance in how Brian Burke's Leafs and basketball games Steve Tambellini's Oilers are going about their rebuilds. Under Burke's tenure as GM of the Leafs, the team has acquired via trade or free agency seven current roster players with a salary of $3 Million or more (Giguere, Beauchemin, Komisarek, Phaneuf, Armstrong, Versteeg - Kessel). The average age of those players is slightly over 27, essentially meaning that the core group of players that Burke basketball games is assembling are by and large in the prime of their career, demonstrating an effort to fast-track the process. It's a pretty good group, too. Three forwards that fit into the top six or seven on most teams, including an elite goal scorer. Three defensemen that play in the top four or five on most teams, including their captain. Plus, a goaltender with a Stanley Cup pedigree. Problem is, rather th basketball games an surrounding them with veterans of a similar age to fill in the remaining holes, the team is chalk full of young players to the point that the Leafs end up being the league's youngest team on average at 26.3 years of age. vaulted into second place in the NHL's rookie scoring race with a three-point outing vs. Toronto. (AP Photo> ).Will the Toronto model work? Is the Edmonton model better? It' basketball games s obviously too early to tell, but there are distinct differences in asset management between the two models, and it will be interesting to follow the growth of the two franchises in the coming years. In the past, the Oilers have been the poster franchise for demonstrating that contenders are not built on trades and free agency. Now, the Oilers are building solely from the draftdiv> basketball games
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