EDMONTON -- Its been eight seasons since the Edmonton Oilers last made the NHL playoffs, so coach Dallas Eakins wasnt talking much about expectations when the players reported for medicals on Thursday. Instead he was focusing on the "process." While he and most of the players were quietly expressing optimism that the team is much improved over last season, Eakins said he wanted the team to "be modest. "We want to have no regrets for the past and no anxieties for the future," he said. "Its what are we doing today and thats it. "Its all about the process. How are we going to get better today? What did I do today to get better and did I gain any respect today? Thats how we want to go after it and everything else looks after itself." At the same time he admitted the club is excited about the off-season changes and the adjustments to his coaching staff. Gone are assistants Steve Smith and Kelly Buchberger, replaced by Craig Ramsay and Keith Acton. The team added some much needed size with the addition of veteran forwards Kevin Westgarth, Teddy Purcell and Benoit Pouliot. All three stand six-foot-three or taller. "Were not going to come in and save the day but I think were going to add some good depth," Purcell said. Equally important, they upgraded a defence that gave up 270 goals last season, the most in the NHL. The team added Mark Fayne from New Jersey, Nikita Nikitin from Columbus and Keith Aulie from Tampa Bay to support returning veterans Jeff Petry, Andrew Ference and Justin Schultz. Expected to battle for spots on the backend will be David Musil, Martin Marincin, who played 44 games in Edmonton last year, Oscar Kiefbom, who had 17 games with the Oilers, and perhaps Darnell Nurse, the teams first-round draft pick two years ago. "Obviously were going to have some battles on defence," Eakins said. "Were upgraded our D with what I call full-time NHL defencemen so there will be some battles going on there." Theres also going to battles down the middle. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should be their No. 1 centre but the rest of the spots are up for grabs. "We have two NHL centremen right now (Nugent-Hopkins and Boyd Gordon)and I have no idea who the other ones will be," Eakins said. "And there will be a spot or two open on the wing." Goaltending was also an issue last season after Devan Dubnyk couldnt handle the starting job. The Oilers have eight goaltenders in camp, but between them theres only 55 games of NHL experience, 40 of that by Ben Scrivens. Obtained late last season, Scrivens and Viktor Fasth, who had five starts in Anaheim and seven in Edmonton, should shoulder the load in net. "I expect those two to push each other very hard for who will get the minutes," Eakins said. "The great thing about them is they are both very good people, theyre very supportive of each other already. We have two men who are high in character, highly competitive and highly supportive of each other and thats a real encouraging sign for me." Scrivens said he and Fasth have to "make sure our games are in order to give our team the chance to win. Vik and I are going to have people nipping at our heels, no question, and thats going to force us to play better, which is going to help the team." The Oilers hope to benefit from a more seasoned Eakins as well. One of the biggest lessons Eakins said he learned in his first season as an NHL head coach was dealing with the media in a tough NHL city. "I dont want to ever turn into a coach whos just going to give you that, yeah lets work hard today and give 100 per cent," he said. "But I did find out about how people can shorten your message and turn it into something else. "I learned many lessons, but my one lesson about bringing up everything that I learned last year is Im worried how it would be twisted so I learned not to speak so much." 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Brooklyn Nets Store . - Novak Djokovic beat John Isner 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-1 on Saturday to reach the final of the BNP Paribas Open, where hell resume his longtime rivalry with Roger Federer.SOCHI, Russia -- Canada is appealing the final results of the mens skicross at the Sochi Olympics in an effort to get fourth-place finisher Brady Leman of Calgary bumped up to gold. The French team swept the podium in the event. The Canadian Olympic Committee, along with the Slovenian Olympic Committee, are alleging that French team staffers changed the shaping of the athletes ski pants for better aerodynamics. The ad hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport is scheduled to hear the case Saturday night. Leman finished fourth in the final to Jean-Frederic Chapuis, Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol of France in Thursdays competition. Slovenias Filip Flisar placed second in the small final and would be bumped to bronze if the appeal is won. Russia would win the silver. The Canadians and Slovenians initially requested that the world governing body of skiing disqualify the French competitors. But the FIS competition jury decided the protests couldnt be heard because they werent filed on time after the race. A decision by the CAS is expected Sunday. The Canadian Olympic Committee didnt immediately respond to an email request for comment. Leman reached Thursdays final after dominating the two previous rounds, but got off to a slow start in the medal round and then fell while trying furiously to catch up.dddddddddddd "I was in disbelief, almost, when I was lying there," he said after the race. "But its part of skicross." It was a second Olympics in a row to end in disappointment for Leman. At the Vancouver Games, he didnt get to compete after fracturing a leg during a practice run. "I just feel slightly better, right now, than I did in Vancouver," he said. "It sucked watching my teammates from the stands, and all I wanted here is a chance. "I gave myself a really good chance today, and that Im really proud of that, but it sucks to be so close to the podium." Leman shrugged off talk he may have been intentionally shut out by the French skiers. He fell too far behind from the start and only briefly had a one-on-one battle with the last of the three leaders. "No, they were all trying for it, they were going for it," he said. "They skied the same as if it had been three different nations." "Everyone was trying to pass and thats in part why I ended up getting stuck on the outside. I probably should have tried going inside, but we have to make split-second decisions. You cant get them all (right) over a day of skicross. At some point you run out of luck -- like I did a couple of hundred metres short." ' ' '