With all the talk this summer of the Edmonton Oilers trying to trade for Danny Heatley to finally add that superstar to the team I think a lot of people have forgotten that the Oilers do have a budding superstar already with Ales Hemsky.  Hemsky has been nothing but spectacular in his time with the Oilers and at 26 should be coming into his prime just in time for the new offense first philosophy of Pat Quinn and the new coaching staff. Hemsky has put up some very impressive numbers in his 6 year NHL career and all of it while playing in a defensive system put in place by Craig Mactavish who has been known to suck the offense out of young players entering the NHL.

I know what your thinking… sure he’s good but a superstar?

Well… yes.

Now I’ll prove it.  Lets compare Ales hemsky’s first 6 NHL seasons with the first 6 NHL seasons of Vinny Lecavalier.

Here are Lecavalier’s numbers for his first 6 seasons:

Now here are Hemsky’s first 6 seasons:

While Lecavalier is obviously a more prolific goal scorer Hemsky has 4 more points in 46 fewer games in the 6 year span and while Hemsky has done this playing in a defensive system with the offensively handicaped Shawn Horcoff as a center Lecavalier has put up his numbers in an offensive system playing with players like Martin StLouis and Brad Richards.

For the record Lecavalier scored 75 points in his 7th season and 108 points in his 8th and while it may be unrealistic to expect Hemsky to break the 100 point mark with the current Oilers roster it will be interesting to see his numbers under the new coaching staff.

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