The Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets will try to get their 2013-14 playoff quests off to a good start on Tuesday, as the clubs battle in a season-opening clash at Rexall Place. Listen to all-day coverage on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg and TSN Radio 1260 in Edmonton. Also, TSNs Ryan Rishaug will be filing news and videos from the morning skate on TSN.ca. The Oilers open this season at home after missing out on the playoffs for a seventh straight season in 2013. Meanwhile, Winnipegs postseason drought is only slightly shorter, as the franchise last qualified for the playoffs in the spring of 2007 when the club was still known as the Atlanta Thrashers. Winnipeg missed out on the postseason by eight points in 2011-12 and by a mere four points last season. As part of the NHLs realignment plan for this season, the Jets are moving from the East to the West, conference wise, to join the Central Division, which expects to be much tougher than the clubs previous home in the now- defunct Southeast. Not only will the Central be the home of the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, but the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild also expect to challenge for the division title, while the Jets, Colorado, Dallas and Nashville simply try to stay afloat. Claude Noel is back for a third season behind the bench for Winnipeg, but he could be in the hot seat if the Jets struggle to find their footing in their new surroundings. The good news for Noel is there is no shortage of talent in Winnipeg, where Evander Kane leads the offense and blueliners Dustin Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom create havoc from the back end. Byfuglien did suffer a lower-body injury in Winnipegs final game of the preseason, but is expected to play in Tuesdays opener. The Jets also added forwards Devin Setoguchi and Michael Frolik via trades this summer, but time will only tell if those moves are enough to help Winnipeg keep pace in a new division and conference. Winnipeg netminder Ondrej Pavelec has proven himself to be a workhorse over the years, but there are some folks who question his ability to be a dependable No. 1 goaltender. The Czech will get plenty of chances to prove himself worthy this season, beginning with a start in Tuesdays opener. Pavelec played in 44 of Winnipegs 48 games in 2013 and was the clubs starting goaltender 43 times while recording a 21-20-3 record. However, his 2.80 goals against average and .905 save percentage were hardly impressive numbers. Still, with Al Montoya returning as the backup, Pavelec is the undisputed No. 1 netminder once again. The Oilers have stockpiled draft picks during its recent rebuilding phase, but there is reason to believe the club is ready to make the transition to playoff contender in 2013-14. Since losing to the Carolina Hurricanes as an upstart eighth seed in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers have yet to make it back to the postseason, giving this once-proud franchise the longest current playoff drought in the NHL. Even worse, the Oilers have rarely been competitive during the downturn, as the seven-season playoff drought includes four last-place finishes and only two seasons of 80 points or more. The Oilers finished 10 points out of a playoff spot during last years lockout-shortened campaign and it wasnt long before the heads began to roll. General manager Steve Tambellini was fired in mid-April and replaced by Craig MacTavish, who had previously coached the club from 2000-09. MacTavish then fired head coach Ralph Krueger after his first season at the job and replaced him with Dallas Eakins, Edmontons fifth different head coach in the last six seasons. Eakins, who was the head coach of the AHLs Toronto Marlies over the last four seasons, will make his debut as an NHL head coach in Tuesdays opener. The turnover didnt stop with management or coaches, however, as MacTavish also chose to part ways with players like former captain Shawn Horcoff, fellow forward Magnus Paajarvi and defenseman Ryan Whitney. Taking over as captain for Horcoff is defenseman Andrew Ference, who signed a four-year deal with the Oilers this offseason after spending the last seven seasons in Boston. The 34-year-old is an Edmonton native and is excited just to be playing with his hometown club, let alone serving as the Oilers captain. "To know that Im able to come back to my hometown and be so extremely proud to pull on the jersey, letter or not, I know how fortunate I am to have that kind of path in a career like this," said Ference. "It really is an ultimate privilege and honor to just have that jersey on in the first place." Under Eakins, the Oilers, who are loaded with talented and highly-touted players stockpiled through the draft, are expected to play with more grit and determination, or the roster upheaval could claim more victims. Although Edmonton is stacked with offensive potential, the club finished 21st in the league in even-strength goals in 2013. Eakins would like to see an improvement in that area this season, but it could be hard in the early going with forwards Sam Gagner (broken jaw) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (offseason shoulder surgery) both on the shelf to start the season. Last season, Devan Dubnyk supplanted veteran Nikolai Khabibulin as Edmontons starting goaltender and enters this season opener with the No. 1 job all to himself. Khabibulin departed to sign a free-agent deal with Chicago and the Oilers replaced him with Jason LaBarbera, who at 33 years of age seems to be a better fit as a backup option than his 40-year-old predecessor. Dubnyk performed well under difficult circumstances for the Oilers last season, facing a ton of rubber on a nightly basis thanks in part to a defense that had a rough time getting the puck out of its own end. Still, the 27-year- old managed to record a strong .920 save percentage to go with a 2.57 goals against average and 14-6-6 record in 2013. Because they were in different conferences last season, the Jets and Oilers never faced each other during the lockout-shortened campaign when teams only played clubs from within their respective conferences. Edmonton has taken the last two meetings against the Jets, who are 2-6-0 with a tie in the past nine encounters between these franchises. Josh Richardson Jersey .ca! There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Playing in his 19th career final, the second-seeded Tsonga was favourite to win the Open 13 for the third time and to secure an 11th career title, but he struggled with Gulbis attacking approach. http://www.cheapheatjerseys.com/. You can watch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Pineda won his second straight start last Wednesday against Chicago, as he held the Cubs to just four hits over six scoreless innings to run his record to 2-0, while lowering his ERA to 1. Tim Hardaway Jersey .J. -- New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is going to start the off-season training program with a surgically repaired left ankle. Chris Bosh Jersey . The Grizzlies erased most of a 25-point deficit before Durant, the leagues scoring champion, got hot.The Dallas Stars landed a big-time scorer to fit into their second-line centre spot, sending forward depth to Ottawa in return. Numbers Game looks at the Jason Spezza trade. The Stars Get: C Jason Spezza and LW Ludwig Karlsson. Spezza, 31, has been one of the premier scoring centres in the league and, since 2005-2006, only Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Thornton and Pavel Datsyuk have a higher points-per-game than Spezzas 1.06 (611 points in 575 games). With a decided tilt towards more offensive zone starts, which makes sense given his skill set, Spezza has put up solid possession stats. In an ideal world, he would be better without the puck, but Spezza has consistently generated shots when hes on the ice. Hes also very effective on the power play, which ought to help a Dallas power play that was 23rd in the league last season, converting 15.9% of their attempts. In Dallas, Spezza should also tend to get favourable matchups, as other teams will still focus on Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Valeri Nichushkin on the top line. At the moment, candidates to skate on Spezzas wing should include veteran Erik Cole, prospects Colton Sceviour and Brett Ritchie as well as, if hes cleared to play, Rich Peverley. What that might indicate is that the Stars are going to still be in the market for additional help. Some of that additional help comes in the person of Spezzas winger in Ottawa at the end of last season, Ales Hemsky, who signed a three-year, $12-million deal with the Stars. Hemsky, 30, was getting miscast in Edmonton, as the Oilers turned to younger talent and cut his ice time, but joining Spezza in Ottawa at the trade deadline showed that Hemsky still has what it takes to produce when he plays with top talent. As a setup guy, Hemsky might fit with Benn and Seguin on the top line, allowing Valeri Nichushkin to slide in alongside Spezza. With one year remaining on his contract, Spezza brings a $7-million cap hit, though hes a significant bargain as his actual salary is only $4-million. Karlsson is a 6-foot-3 winger who spent most of his first pro season in the ECHL, scoring 24 points in 39 games. With the Senators taking on three players, Karlsson going the other way eases any potential pressure on Ottawas reserve list. If he materializes into a legit NHL prospect, it would come as a major surprise and probably an added kick in the teeth to the Senators, who are already giving up the clear top player in the deal. Dallas is a team on the rise and adding Spezza and Hemsky to the fold does a nice job closing the gap between the Stars and the top contenders in the Western Conference. The Senators Get: RW Alex Chiasson, C Alex Guptill, LW Nick Paul and 2nd round pick in 2015. Chiasson is a 23-year-old winger coming off a decent rookie season during which he scored 13 goals and 35 points in 79 games, with meddiocre possession stats that were substantially better than his minus-21 rating would suggest, thanks to one of the lowest on-ice save percentages in the league.dddddddddddd Thats the kind of thing that tends to bounce back, so dont write off Chiasson entirely as a defensive liability. Offensively, he broke into his NHL career with 11 goals and 54 shots on goal in 19 games (from late 2012-2013 through October 2013), and the 6-foot-3 winger looked like he might have the making of a big goal-scorer, more because he was generating a lot of shots rather than the unsustainable rate at which he was finishing, but Chiassons ice time decreased as the season went on and he scored eight goals in the final 70 games of the season. With offensive upside, its possible that Chiasson would find his way into a role with the Senators top six forwards, but there will be some competition among other offseason additions as well as the wingers already in the organization. With Clarke MacArthur and Bobby Ryan the established scorers, there will be room for competition with the likes of Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad, depending on the next steps for Senators GM Bryan Murray. Still on his entry-level deal, Chiasson will make $900,000 next season, which is a bargain price for a top-nine forward, particularly one that could conceivably score 20 goals in the right situation. 22-year-old Alex Guptill is a solid prospect, who scored 61 points in 69 games over his last two seasons at the University of Michigan. He joined the Texas Stars late in the season, chipping in a couple of points in five games, so hell start next season at Binghamton and get used to the pro grind. Nick Paul is a 19-year-old winger that the Stars drafted in the fourth round last summer. He has good size (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) and while he made progress in his second OHL season, scoring 26 goals and 46 points in 67 games, he was even better in the postseason, scoring 12 goals and 18 points in 22 playoff games. Both Paul and Guptill have a chance to eventually play for the Senators, but both are going to need some time before thats a realistic consideration. A second-round pick brings a little better than a one-in-three chance of yielding an NHL player. All told, this package isnt particularly sexy in exchange for the second-leading scorer in franchise history, but the Senators didnt have much leverage and have reasonable chance to get two or three NHLers out of the deal, eventually. It might be more encouraging if the Senators were going to take the cap savings from this deal and re-invest it in the teams payroll, but we will have to wait and see if anything happens in that respect before the Senators get credit for losing skill and cutting payroll. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. 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