Jack Eichel scores his first career goal in his National Hockey League debut

“There’s nothing better than that”.

The joyous moment was made more special as Fabbri’s parents, Len and Steph, sat in the stands witnesses their sons National Hockey League debut. That’s when the nerves kicked in. “We wish him a lot of goals and we hope this is the first of many”.

That was the question that consumed analysts for much of previous year and will continue to do so throughout their playing careers.

It’s just one game but at the same time you can only ever play your first game once.

Edmonton selected first in the draft for the fourth time in six years in June, as McDavid joined Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (’11) and Nail Yakupov (’12) as the top selections in that stretch. “This is a new adventure for everybody involved”.

“I remember watching Ovechkin and Crosby come into the league and it was like you know, it’s Sidney Crosby, it was his show”, said Eichel. “I had a lot of fun with it”, the forward said. “I thought he played well, and really didn’t panic in his play; didn’t overextend himself”. He might be the only one.

Ken Hitchcock is ready to “move forward” after last season. All in all, Fabbri will be an interesting player to watch over the first few weeks as he is one of the most exciting skilled prospects in the world.

“You listen to everything and it’s ‘Where a team is going to finish, who’s going to have success, who’s going to fail, who’s going to get fired, who’s going to be on the block as far as a player, who’s under pressure?’ But when you start playing, it’s about the season in front of us and it’s a great feeling”. In Pittsburgh, Crosby will make Kessel a better player, and that’ll lead to more goals… more than Ovechkin. “You really want to get up the ice and get back hard”.

But when he woke up on Thursday he said it finally hit him.

I’m excited for this season.

That target is already there. Be it a crucial point-blank stoning of Vladimir Tarasenko in the opening minute of play or big second period stops off David Backes and Kevin Shattenkirk to keep the game tied, the 28-year old was simply outstanding. A handful of Erie Otters fans with McDavid sweaters were also in attendance at Scottrade Center. Around 200 media credentials were dispensed to those who wanted to witness the 18-year-old who has been trumpeted as the savior of the hapless Oilers.

McDavid remains a natural talent, but with what appears to be unnatural focus.

McDavid’s next challenge is to try and solve Pekka Rinne as the Oilers visit the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. If he absolutely had to pick a basketball team it would be the Knicks, but he’d gladly trade them for just one championship for either of his other three teams.

Like Crosby and Ovechkin, McDavid and Eichel have the potential to be the twin faces of the next generation of NHLers. “We just want him to feel like he’s one of the guys – he is one of the guys, but we just want to make sure that’s clear”. They now go on a massive road trip that won’t see them return to St. Louis until 2020. “We were 1-1 going into the third last night against a real good team, in their building”.

The Dallas Stars, the highest-scoring team in the West previous year, just missed the playoffs and upgraded in the offseason, adding Johnny Oduya and Patrick Sharp from the champion Blackhawks.