Music: {allcanada} As Oilers' young guns draw hype, steady Hemsky racks up the points

GAME TIME

CANUCKS at OILERS 7 p.m., Tuesday

Media: 630 CHED, RSW

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EDMONTON — Fans want to know how Taylor Hall (notes) is with a wrench in his hands putting together stools from Ikea, and how Jordan Eberle (notes) and Magnus Paajarvi (notes) are around a stove, which is just fine with Ales Hemsky (notes), who doesn't care that he's not the face of the Edmonton Oilers any longer.

The kids are getting all the hype while Hemsky is getting his points.

The Oilers veteran has eight points in nine games—four goals, four assists—and he's plus-four. With little fanfare, Hemsky's been just as good as Eberle, who might be the NHL's top rookie so far, and he has the same number of goals as Hall and Paajarvi combined.

Yet nobody's noticed.

Well, that's not completely right. The coaches have noticed. In the last minute of Friday's game at Chicago, Hemsky was out there battling to free the puck for Sam Gagner (notes) to slide into the empty net as the Oilers outlasted the Blackhawks 7-4.

It was a hard-nosed play showing total commitment from Hemsky. But Gagner got the glory with his second goal of the night.

"Everybody is engaged mentally … there's not a single player who isn't willing to do what they have to do, but Hemmer is playing through a lot of junk to be a real leader on this team and it looks awfully good on him," said coach Tom Renney.

Hemsky, who didn't skate Sunday because he's a little banged up, but will certainly play against the Vancouver Canucks at Rexall Place on Tuesday, has no trouble with the other kids getting all the publicity. He's been the Oilers' best player for a long time, but he's never been a big limelight guy. He usually has to be dragged out of the back of the dressing room to talk to the media.

So if it's all Hall (five points) right now, with equal dollops of Eberle (eight points) and Paajarvi (six), that's fine with Hemsky.

"I'm happy for them. They're the young up-and-coming stars. I can fly under the radar and just sneak around," said Hemsky.

Hemsky is still seeing the other team's top two defencemen on a nightly basis—Duncan Keith (notes) and Brent Seabrook (notes) in Chicago, Robyn Regehr (notes) in Calgary the whole game—but is encouraged by the talent level of Hall and Eberle and Paajarvi, although he cautions that it's only nine games into an 82-game grind.

Other teams will start drawing up scouting plans to stop the rookies, too.

"It's more relaxing for me," said Hemsky. "It's taking some of the pressure off, the media, everything … we're rebuilding. It's taken the pressure off a lot of guys," Hemsky said. "We have a lot of depth, a lot of skill. It's fun to be part of this."

He's bought into the rebuild.

"This is how you have to do it. You have to do it from scratch. They are going in the right direction … we still want to win (games). That's why we're playing hockey. You still want to have a good season and make the playoffs, but this is a good situation," said Hemsky, who left the rink dismayed on a lot of nights last year.

"I didn't play much (shoulder surgery), but I don't think it was fun for anybody, even you guys (media)."

He's enjoying being at the rink now, however, which bodes well with his contract expiring in two years and he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Hemsky might want to hang around for a significant raise over his current $4.1-million salary-cap hit, rather than test the market. But the Oilers will want to get him tied up by next summer before he enters the final year of his contract.

"Right now, I'm not thinking of anything else. Whatever happens, happens. Right now, I'm playing and I'm happy," he said.

Hemsky isn't playing a subordinate role, but Renney certainly agrees the kids are getting all the attention around the league.

"Our culture and the enthusiasm that the youth brings, the ability to deflect some of the pressure from Ales, has helped, no question," said Renney. "But he's a man of character and he's showing that now."

He's still the Oilers' go-to guy, however. He is playing 19 minutes a night and killing penalties for the first time, with Dustin Penner (notes).

"We have a deep respect for Ales as a coaching staff," said Renney. "We put him in positions where he can demonstrate his ability to lead and that may be one thing that's been underestimated with this guy.

"Even when I watched him in junior (as a talent evaluator for the New York Rangers), he went to the tough areas and he still does it as he did with Mac (Craig MacTavish) and Pat (Quinn)."