VOTE: The Biggest Surprise Of The Oilers' 2012-13 Season

I asked for nominations for the biggest surprise for the Edmonton Oilers in the 2012-13 season and the responses were all over the place. From Taylor Hall to Corey Potter and non-sanctioned negative surprises. Below are the nominees:

1. Sam Gagner

"I know that there were certain aspects of his game that will be tough to repeat, and that his possession numbers took a big turn for the worse, but he surprised me with his offensive output, and maybe even more surprisingly, his showing on the penalty kill." - Alan Hull

"Gagner getting all of the team’s puck luck after a career defined by crap luck. Probably most shocked he didn’t get traded as a result of it." - Gonadsgo

2. Devan Dubnyk

" I was impressed with DD. He was calm in net and other than letting in an occasional softie which almost every goalie is prone to doing, he kept us in games. Other than the SJ game where he got lit up 5-6 times in a period, I cant really recall him being poor in any game." - Guptee

3. Magnus Paajarvi

"Light looked to be coming on and likely a solid fit in the mix with the other guys. Solid 2/3 LW you have a lot of years under your contract control with if you play it right…" - Chartleys

"Ken Hitchcock will turn him into a possession monster and threat to score … MPS may become the league’s best value contract by the beginning of 2014." - Zdeno's Cigar

"I completely agree with MPS being a positive surprise. It’s really did seem that he was starting to round the bend." - borisnikov

4. Justin Schultz

"I really didn’t think that he was going to be capable of a 46 pt/82 pace so soon. I would have been more than pleased with 35 per 82." - borisnikov

" I had limited expectations on someone jumping from the college game to the NHL. However, looking at the way he dominated the NHL-laced AHL before having a good rookie season was more than I ever expected. The one thing that never seems to get mentioned is that he was 4 points behind Yakupov for the rookie scoring lead. This was an incredible season for Schultz." - Vanvoneer

5. Nail Yakupov

"I didn’t expect the young Yak to come on scene and lead the team in goals in his rookie season" - ScottieA

"especially when he had a rather dry spell midway through the season" - OilTastic

6. Corey Potter

"Did a remarkable job impersonating a competent third-pairing defenseman." - Wonder Llama

7. Ladislav Smid

"Thought that he took another step towards being a pure, shut down type of guy… he blocks shots… throws hits… tries to keep the crease clear of forwards…" - vetinari

8. Jordan Eberle

"He took a step forward in actual hockey playing ability even if his counting numbers were less impressive. He’s quite unlikely to ever be a 6M dollar man, but he’s really starting to look like a genuine, bona fide, quality NHL impact player." - donair poutine

9. Taylor Hall

"I’m a huge fan of Hall, and I expect that he’ll be a superstar in the near future, but I didn’t expect him to knock it out of the park like he did last season as a third year player." - Ryan Batty