Edmonton Oilers Sunday Ramblings: First Win, Player Reviews and More

This week on my Sunday Ramblings, we had three Oilers games and finished the week with a 1-2-0 record. We faced some tough competition (more on that below) with visiting Dallas, our home opener against St. Louis and our first Battle of Alberta Tilt in Calgary.

Finally

We have our first win of the season. It’s finally happened.

Let’s be real here: the schedule the Oilers have this month is brutal. Only two teams we play in October did not make the playoffs last year and those are the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings, two teams that could very well make the playoffs because the West is just unfair.

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

A 1-4 start looks bad on paper. Then you start comparing it around the league:

Anaheim is dead last in the Pacific with an 0-3-1 record.

Calgary has the same record as Edmonton.

Los Angeles has an ugly 1-3 record.

Arizona has more wins than all four of those teams put together.

Like I said in the pre-game post yesterday: It’s really early in the season to be making any guesses to how the season will go for those teams. Do you honestly believe that Anaheim will remain last in the Pacific Division and that the Arizona Coyotes will make the playoffs?

No. It’s way too small of a sample size. Although some teams it’s more likely that the losing will continue (sorry Edmonton) but some of those teams are too good to not over come the early season woes. To be fair, it could be way worse: Columbus is a tire fire defensively (and that’s coming from an Oiler fan) and Bobrovsky has a woeful save percentage. Now that’s a situation I’d be worried about.

That said, winning feels great. You do not see anyone complaining, saying McDavid is terrible, gunning for Matthews. All that loser talk evaporates and people are off the ledge for one day at least.

Players

Taylor Hall: Had a great second half in St. Louis and was dominant in Calgary. Scary thing is, as good as Hall was in Calgary last night, he was probably the second best Edmonton Oiler. It’s funny when Hall produces that all these mythical “character problems” have vanished. Which is great to put the plug in the haters mouths. He’s one of the games best LWs and he showed it last night in Calgary. It was great because he was the driver of his line all game long.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Nuge was huge. It’s not so much the offense, where he had some great chances and scored against Calgary, but rather his impressive back checking ability. He’s becoming a monster on the defensive side of the game. No, he will never be a physical demon, but he’s so smart with his stick. His speed is surprising. He’s looked very well with Taylor Hall back on his line.

Matt Hendricks: The third part of the top line and it was a headscratcher. Matt Hendricks, who usually plays LW on the fourth line is on the top line? Jonathan Willis said it great by comparing it to Toby Petersen on the Power Play. However, unlike Petersen, Hendricks looked good enough on the top line. No, he’s not a long term solution but hey he brings a missing element: grit.

Nail Yakupov: It was great seeing Nail’s first goal. Honestly, there have been some nights where he looks like our best forward. He still has issues reading the defence: there was that example where he just skates into the defensive zone and completely misses his assignment. That said, I cannot harp on the guy too much. He brings a great effort on both ends and is at least trying. Sure, the IQ side can be questionable but you have to love the effort he brings. Plus, I’ve noticed he’s becoming more and more of a pest on the offensive side.

Benoit Pouliot: With Pouliot, you’re playing with fire. He has a tendency to take some really stupid offensive zone penalties. On the flip side, he’s great when he forechecks. There’s been some questioning about his commitment and energy levels but he looked very solid against Calgary.

Anton Slepyshev: Only played against St. Louis and Dallas, sat out against Calgary. I think his time in the NHL is almost over (for now). It’s nothing against the guy: he had an impressive training camp but as predicted, he would struggle in the big leagues. This is why I caution about putting too much stock into training camps: every year you have some wonder tearing it up and then he’s sent down shortly afterwards.

Andrej Sekera: NEEDS to get it going fast. He looked better from what I saw against Calgary but he had another dumb mistake. I will stand by the signing, because I am stubborn like that, but he needs to get it going soon. He’s slowly making his way there. I think Fayne needs to be off his pairing though.

Griffin Reinhart: Was “meh” against Calgary. Nothing outstanding to really say, struggled. Would not be surprised if he was sitting against Vancouver. I still think he’s better than Ference and Davidson though. Another guy that could use a different D partner.

Cam Talbot: Is it not great that the Oilers finally have a number one goalie, sample sizes aside? Keeps the Oilers in the games. Doing his job superbly.

Connor McDavid: I have to laugh at the people who were questioning McDavid. You should really see other websites and forums or if you’re feeling really brave, Facebook Comments. McDavid played like what we all have expected him to play like. He was the best Oiler last night against Calgary and was downright dominant. He was finally shooting the puck and had two nice goals against Hiller. More importantly though, he danced around Hamilton like he was nothing and had Hiller beat in an outstanding display but was denied by Hiller’s stick. If McDavid rose that puck, we would have had a highlight of the year candidate and his first NHL hat trick. Flames fans were booing him every time he touched the puck and he quickly silenced the crowd. It was an amazing display of skill and talent that we all know that he has. It was great that he broke out against the Flames. I cannot wait to see that more and more.

Week Ahead

Oilers play tonight against Vancouver, Wednesday against Detroit and Friday against Washington.

It’s some tough competition for sure. Back to Back games have not been kind to us in the past and Detroit and Washington are not easy games at all.

Still, we’re entering a new week on a positive high. Hopefully it will carry over.