Article content continued

“I feel like the fans have been very supportive this year,” says defenceman Morgan Rielly, 22 years old and in this lineup something of an elder statesman. “They know what’s going on with this team.”

“It’s exciting around here, it’s exciting for everyone,” says Jake Gardiner, a crusty old 25. Compared with last year, he says, “it’s way better around here.”

Tyler Bozak, 30 years old and presumably still telling his wide-eyed teammates what it was like to be alive in the 1980s: “You can see it in the building, in the volume, everyone’s excited around here.”

I think we can officially call it optimism.

Compare that with, for example, the situation in Edmonton, which headed into Wednesday tied with Toronto for last place in the NHL, and where head coach Todd McClellan pitched a fit on Saturday night after the Oilers were thumped by the Calgary Flames. He called the performance “crap” (twice) and “bulls–t” and “frickin’ embarrassing” and generally lamented that the team hadn’t accomplished anything in the 200 days since he took over.

This is more or less what you expect a coach to do when you are staring at 30th place in the standings. And then there is Mike Babcock, who like McClellan is still new to his group. He conceded on Wednesday morning that preparing to sit out the playoffs is not something anyone involved in hockey should want to do, and that his team still has a lot of work before it as it tries to build a legitimate contender, but he didn’t sound off on anything approaching a rant.