Edmonton Oilers: How They Stack Up Against ‘Fringe’ Teams

There’s a reason I only highlighted the three teams immediately ahead of Edmonton Oilers in my previous post. That’s because there was some optimism to be drawn from the numbers if last year against Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.

The three teams I’ll be featuring today are to be considered “fringe” playoff teams, and that’s not a slight at them. Western Conference hockey is a lot of very physical, talented teams up top, and until you come at them with similar levels of talent, you’re going to have a bad time. Arizona, Colorado and Minnesota are not lacking in talent to get them into a wildcard seed, but nothing really has happened to make you think they will be making any major stride to taking down a Dallas or Anaheim in the postseason.

Unless of course they were playing Edmonton last year. Seriously if you’re underage or pregnant, it might be unwise to stare directly at these numbers.

More from Editorials

• Three Battles To Watch At Edmonton Oilers Training Camp
• Keys to Success: What the Edmonton Oilers Need to Focus on for a Successful Season
• The Edmonton Oilers Mean Business This Season
• Are The Edmonton Oilers Better Than Last Season?
• Analyzing the Importance of Preseason Games for the Edmonton Oilers

10. Arizona Coyotes, 35-39-8, 78 points

The Coyotes legitimately scare me; they’re turning into the Minnesota Timberwolves (shout out, Andrew Wiggins) of NHL teams, and I have secretly saved into favorites list. Even if you don’t consider the ultra-talented prospect pool of Max Domi, Anthony Duclair and Dylan Strome, along with new first-round picks Clayton Keller and Jacob Chychrun, that still completely leaves out OEL and company–  I’m rambling.

Did the Oilers at least do well? Well, a record of 1-3-1 doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, especially when you’re outscored 19-10, like Edmonton did. Plus, the one game they won against the ‘Yotes was in a shootout.

Watch out for Arizona; despite their instability, they are a well-built team, and having a young hockey mind (27-year-old GM John Chayka) in charge is only going to add to that.

9. Colorado Avalanche, 39-39-4, 82 points

It seemed like just a short time ago, the Avs were going to be selling off pieces left and right. Matt Duchene was thought to be gone around the deadline, Tyson Barrie had become the new Ryan O’Reilly and at one point, even Gabriel Landeskog was rumored to be available. Move things along to August, and the only change is Patrick Roy’s unexplained resignation.

Coaching changes can have a huge impact on how a team plays, and in this case, it might be possible that the Avs are embarrassed they let Patty down. Erik Johnson had some things to say after the news broke earlier this week.

“.. from the players’ perspective, myself and probably 90 percent of my teammates, which is a lot on any team because no coach is going to have everyone that loves him, but I can tell you that probably over 90 percent of the guys loved playing for Patty. We respected him, we thought he was a great coach and we’ll all really miss him.”

They can take some comfort in the fact that, while getting outshot (because Avs Defence), they took care of Edmonton with 3 wins and a 2:to:1 goal ratio. Goaltending will be the key factor in the Rockies if they don’t improve on D.

Don’t be surprised if you see a Calvin Pickard uprising; the Avs are not built to be a cap team anymore, and new contracts to Barrie and MacKinnon scream otherwise.

8. Minnesota Wild, 38-33-11, 87 points.

I initially thought the Wild could be a team that just had some bad breaks;11 losses in overtime or shootouts might suggest that but they were still eight full points behind seventh-place Nashville. Give them all extra 11 wins, and they still finish tied with San Jose. They’re were a good team, but still not yet a contender.

They’re a solid team though, but one that could soon show signs of regression. Their top paid forwards in Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and newcomer Eric Staal are all 31 or over and signed for multiple seasons. Ryan Suter is still effective, but is 31 years old.

The Wild have some great potential out of their blue line, but it’s still unknown what will become or Jonas Brodin or Matt Dumba will become, or what they’re really worth (not Nugent-Hopkins, though). Goaltender Devan Dubnyk signed a huge deal after his incredible All-Star campaign, and while it was unrealistic to expect his almost  940 save percentage to be maintained, he needs to continue to improve while in his 30s.

Minnesota needs to come out of the gate early next year and figure out exactly what they have, if they stumble you might see some of the bigger names at least attempted to be moved to make way for some younger guys. In the mean time they can take solace in the fact they went 1-2 vs Edmonton, though they were some closer contested games.

Next: Do the Oilers Commit to Players Too Soon?

It’s certainly not an easy path for the Oilers to dig their way out of the basement of the Western Conference. Having gone a underwhelming 2-8-1 against fringe teams NHL: Arizona Coyotes at Edmonton Oilerslast year, we can at least be optimistic in the idea that this isn’t the same Edmonton team that we had last year, and maybe, these numbers will change for the better.