When you’re drawing up a first line, specifically wingers to flank Connor McDavid on opening night, a guy with zero NHL experience and a guy who averages 14 goals a year aren’t the first two ingredients that come to mind.

But, there they were on the first day of Edmonton Oilers training camp — 29-year-old Czech free agent David Tomasek and former Calgary Flame Andrew Mangiapane — on either side of the Oilers captain.

On paper, it’s not a trio, even with the best player in the world in the middle, that inspires fear in opponents or inspiration in an Edmonton market that realizes the importance, for on-ice reasons and beyond, of surrounding McDavid with the best talent possible.

With Zach Hyman recovering from wrist surgery, and not due back until the first week of November, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins maybe settling into a third-line centre role, this is what the Oilers are exploring out of the gate.

Good? Or good luck?

McDavid, for one, sees potential in the two new guys. Tomasek, a physical presence at 6-foot-two, 210-pounds, brings an offensive track record over from Sweden, where he put up 24 goals and 33 assists in 47 games for Farjestad BK. He was also turning heads at the captain’s skates prior to training camp, impressing veterans and coaches with a heavy, accurate shot and quick release.

Those are positive signs, but there is also a sobering difference between the Swedish League and the NHL, where playing on McDavid’s wing means always having to face the other team’s best players.

As for Mangiapane, he must feel like he won the lottery. He was playing about 13 minutes a night last season in Washington’s bottom six and now he’s in the most coveted spot in all of hockey.

“(McDavid) is a special player and I think anybody in the league would want to play with him,” the 29-year-old said after his first day of camp. “I’m just going out there trying to play my game, play hard, try to read off him. Hopefully he teaches me a thing or two and hopefully we go from there.”

Mangiapane scored 14 goals last season and 14 goals the year before that, so he isn’t bringing any numbers with him that make you stand up and take notice. But, after scoring 17 and 18 goals in his first two full seasons in the NHL, he buried a career-high 35 with the Flames in 2021-22.

That was a one-year anomaly, so far. What McDavid and the Oilers hope is that his new surroundings and his new opportunity with release some of that long-lost scoring touch.

“He’s somebody I grew up playing against,” said McDavid. “I never played with him, always against him, and he’s always been that annoying guy on the other side. It’s nice to have him on our side.

“But he’s a lot more than that, he’s a great player. He’s a guy who scored 35 goals in this league before. He can play with an edge, he plays fast, wins battles. He’s got a lot of things I’m looking for in a winger.

“I know things can change but I’m hoping to build something with him.”

Is there still a 30-goal man in there somewhere? If there is, McDavid will surely be able to bring him out. If not, then the Oilers will be scrambling for a viable Plan B.

“I was playing a ton of minutes, being tenacious, hard on pucks,” Mangiapane said of his 35-goal campaign. “I had a lot of confidence. I think that’s huge in this league. I have to find my game again. I know it’s in there. I’m getting a good opportunity here playing with good players. I just have to run with it.”

These spots aren’t etched in stone, of course. Tomasek is a placeholder until Hyman comes back and Mangiapane could drop to the second line with Leon Draisaitl if Nugent-Hopkins moves back to his familiar spot next to McDavid.

While it’s a top six that will open the season with some serious question marks, McDavid also believes change is not only good, it was necessary.

“I thought that was the best practice we’ve had in a long, long, long time,” he said of Day One. “Exciting, high-paced, competitive, fun to be out there. At times last year it was a little stale. Having some new faces in here, some young blood, playing with newer guys, can be exciting.

“With that being said, we know we can always go back to the old things, playing with Leo, playing with Nuge, we always have those things to go back to. But it’s exciting to try and build something with some other guys.”

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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