The Edmonton Oilers will be back in the NHL playoffs next season, team general manager Kevin Lowe predicted Tuesday.

Lowe made the comments at an end-of-season news conference following his team's 3-2 loss to Calgary a week ago. It left the Oilers in ninth place in the Western Conference and one spot out of playoff contention.

Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe predicts his team will be back in the NHL playoffs in 2009.
(CBC)

"Our goal going into the season was to try to make the playoffs and be in a development year," Lowe said.

"We didn't accomplish the playoffs but it was a good effort by the boys ... we certainly had our best development year in 12 or 15 years, so [I] can't wait for next year."

Lowe said he's pleased with the improvement from the young players such as Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano and Kyle Brodziak during the last six weeks of the season and said they will only get better from here.

"I'm really excited about the prospects of those players. They're exciting players and they're all good players .... so that's what we have to look forward to."

With all the talent on the team, he is not planning on making a lot of changes, and fans should not expect to see more than one or two new faces for the coming season, Lowe said.

The Oilers have not made the playoffs since 2006 when the team made it to the Stanley Cup finals before being defeated 3-1 by the Carolina Hurricanes in game 7.