Top 5 Oilers’ Positives To Start the Season

Life as an Edmonton Oilers fan has been less than ideal to start the 2013-14 NHL season.  A new season brought new hopes with many changes happening with the team, from the roster to the management.  But a 1-3 start for the Oilers with some uninspiring play has left many feeling the blues as the team heads out on their east coast swing.

But it’s not all bad, in fact outside of a few soft goals, some glaring holes in the defensive end and the struggles from some of the fire power, this Oilers team has many positives going for them.

In sports, especially when devoting your sporting life to the Edmonton Oilers, it can be beyond easy to get sucked down into the negative aspects.  But since when did the Oilers miss the playoffs in October?  Who said that this roster is the final one that the team will be forced to use all year?  Or when did four games into the season warrant a shake up in the sense of signing Ilya Bryzgalov or trading away a key piece to the future?

Underneath this sub .500 record lies a team that is frustrated as hell.  No player likes losing and given the handful that have experienced it in Edmonton for the past several years, this start isn’t what anyone wanted.

But all is not lost.  Anytime a new coach takes over a hockey team, it takes time to adjust to his newly implemented systems and sometimes the results don’t happen over night.  Patience is a must and more times than not, the team will start to deliver performances and the outcomes will be drastically different.

With all of that being said, here are the top five positives that surrounding the Oilers so far this season.

#5 – The Power Play

Before the season started it was stated here at Oil on Whyte that the Oilers power play would be an essential to the team’s success. Coming off a year that saw the Oilers man advantage rank in the top ten in the NHL, a similar offensive threat was expected and so far they haven’t disappointed.

Currently ranked 10th in the league, the Oilers have converted on 25% of their power play opportunities or 4 goals in 16 chances. Considering that the team has only scored 11 total goals through four games and 4 of those have come with the man advantage, it’s safe to say that other areas are in need of attention.

The success of the Oilers power play doesn’t come as a surprise to many given the amount of talent on this team.  Anytime you can have Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the ice with one less defender, the chances they’ll score greatly increase.  Not to mention having the slick skating Justin Schultz on the back end who makes things happen on the PP by simply throwing the puck at the net.

Again, it’s an obvious and expected positive with this club but it is something that will help build success, which in turn will lead to more wins.

#4 – Face-offs

Similar to the power-play, the Oilers need to have success in the face-off circle this year and perhaps this is the biggest surprise to date.  A surprise yes, but a positive none the less.

Currently, the Oilers as a team are ranked 3rd in the league with a face-off winning percentage of 56.8%.  This was supposed to be one of their many Achilles heal this year with the lack of depth at centre when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sam Gagner were both out of the lineup.  But that has not been the case and in at least a couple of plays so far this year, winning the draw has led to an Oilers goal.

Not surprisingly Boyd Gordon leads the way at over 62%.  This was one of the main reasons the Oilers signed Gordon as a free-agent this past off-season and so far he has lived up to the expectations and not just in the faceoff department.

Following Gordon are Mark Arcobello with a percentage of 56.9% and when you consider he won just 38% of his draws in the pre-season this is a remarkable turn around.  Whether or not this stat alone will be enough to keep Arcobello in the lineup when Sam Gagner does return remains to be seen but for the time being, he’s contributing to the team by winning more draws than he’s losing.

Winning the face-offs may not have directly led to victories for the Oilers yet, but it is another positive for this team to build on.  If they can continue to win more draws than they lose, the scoring chances will continue to present themselves which could help turn a game around.

#3 – Out-shooting Opponents

Last season the Oilers were comparable to an open shooting gallery for their opponents, commonly getting outnumbered in the shots on goal department by a wide margin.

So far this season through four games that trend has reversed with three of those contests resulting in the Oilers having the edge in shots.  Two of the games have been a difference by a shot or two but it’s still in favor of the Oilers and proves they are generating chances by getting pucks at the net.

To start the year, the Oilers are averaging 29 shots for and 31 against.  It’s worth noting that the averages don’t favor the Oilers based on the Vancouver game that saw the Canucks fire 44 shots on Edmonton’s net.

It’s a positive trend to see the Oilers out shooting their opponents, even if they aren’t winning hockey games.  As mentioned, by getting the pucks to the net, they will eventually start getting some bounces to go their way which will lead to more victories.

#1 – Proof this team can play – New Jersey game

Everyone knows this team in Edmonton has the talent that can keep up with most teams in this league.  But it’s been the inconsistent efforts and inability to put together a solid 60-minute effort that is plaguing this club.

Perhaps one of the most important positives that this team has portrayed in the small sample size of four games is the way they played in the third period against the New Jersey Devils.

Trailing 3-0 entering the final frame, the Oilers came out like a team possessed and damn near blew the roof off of Rexall Place with their heroic comeback.  They were relentless and proved that when hungry enough they can steam roll the bottom feeders in this league.

This type of mentality is needed every shift and it’ll be up to Dallas Eakins to be able restore that type of energy and mindset in the Oilers moving forward.  They have the talent, ability, skill, call it what you want.  This team has the pieces to compete for a playoff spot and had they shown up for the 60-minutes in the games against Winnipeg, Vancouver and Montreal then this team wouldn’t be 1-3 but likely 3-1.

Then we wouldn’t have to dwell so hard on the positives and wouldn’t wonder when this team is going to start playing like we know they can.

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