Edmonton Oilers: Five Reasons the Oilers Will Make the Playoffs in 2018
By Pelle
Today we’re going to give you five reasons as to why the Edmonton Oilers will make the playoffs in 2018/19!
Edmonton Oilers: Apart from the obvious, Connor McDavid staying healthy, here are five more reasons the Oilers will make the post-season this year!
REASON #1 – Cam Talbot
If Cam Talbot‘s play during the preseason is any indication as to how his regular season is going to go, then the Oilers are going to have a much better year in 2018/19. No more goals on the first shot of the period. No more leaky goals on the penalty kill. No more brainfarts on long distance shots.
Cam Talbot getting back to his 2016/17 form will go a long way in getting the Oilers to the post-season.
REASON #2 – The Powerplay
Last season the Oilers were the worst team with the man-advantage in the entire NHL. Think about how bad a team has to be to be last in the NHL with Connor McDavid on the team. It’s almost unimaginable, right?
This summer Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli made some changes to the coaching staff by bringing in a highly touted coach from the WHL by the name of Manny Viveiros whose team (Swift Current Broncos) had a 29.4% powerplay in 2017/18.
If even at-the very least, the Oilers PP is league average, the team will see an increase in their positional within the Pacific division.
REASON #3 – The Penalty Kill
Just as with the power play, the Oilers penalty kill was atrocious in 2017/18. They finished the year in 25th place, but there were months gone by last season where they had the worst PK in the NHL, and as a result, they missed the playoffs and were back to being a team made jokes about.
This season the Oilers brought in Trent Yawney. A former Chicago Blackhawks head coach and long-time Anaheim Ducks assistant coach. He’s known for his ability to run a penalty kill and for developing defencemen as he’s had a hand in bringing along Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm, and Brandon Montour for the Ducks.
The same thing goes for the PK as the PP, if the Oilers can bring-it to at least league average, they’re going to save themselves a lot of headaches, and they’re going to be well on their way to the year-end tournament called “The Stanley Cup Playoffs.”
REASON #4 – Right Wing Scoring
Between Ty Rattie, Kailer Yamamoto, and Jesse Puljujarvi, 17 goals were scored this preseason. That’s half of all the goals Edmonton scored in the exhibition season!
So it’s safe to say that we can expect those three players to continue putting the puck in the net for the Oilers this season but not at that rate.
I think a safe number to expect out of those three would be 55 goals on the year? And if the trio features prominently on the Oilers PP and PK units, that number could be conservative.
REASON #5 – Healthy Defence
Not a good start so far as Adam Larsson and Kris Russell are already banged up and won’t be playing against Cologne this week. Add that to Andrej Sekera’s torn Achilles, and things are going south before the season even starts.
That said, Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan did say that Larsson and Russell should feature in the season opener vs. the New Jersey Devils in Sweden.
Edmonton cannot afford to lose their top defenders for any significant periods of time this year. We saw how it affected the play of the team last year and if Cam Talbot doesn’t have a proper defense in front of him, he’s going to be relied upon far too much to keep the puck out of the net. Not only that but it could force the Oilers to keep one or both of Evan Bouchard and Ethan Bear on the roster thus adding undue pressure to their performances in a year where jobs are on the line, and the playoffs are the only way to secure them.
With a healthy defense, the Oilers CAN return to the form that leads them to the playoffs in 2016/17 and a goal away from the Western Conference final.
What do you think are the main reasons would be if the Oilers made the playoffs?