What Caused The Losing Streak For The Edmonton Oilers?
By Adam Girard
The Impact of Injuries
Oscar Klefbom is without a doubt the Oilers number one defencemen. There’s no questioning that. So apparently there is going to be a set back when you have to slot other players into situations Klefbom would typically be utilized in.
A quote from Hitchock’s post-game interview on Thursday stood out to me, “Everything in the NHL is about slotting. Everything is about putting people in the right positions so they can have success.” (courtesy of OilersTV)
What he means by this is that when you take a player out of their slot and expect them to take on a more prominent role, it may work temporarily, but this is the NHL, and eventually, they are going to be exposed.
Hitchcock also mentioned how hard it is for this roster to absorb the loss of 2-3 guys that play critical roles in 5vs5 and on the Penalty Kill. And I don’t think there is any need for me to explain the importance of Oscar Klefbom to the team’s powerplay. Especially with the inability to replace him with anyone capable of quarterbacking a first unit powerplay at the NHL level.
These injuries and the recent record to follow them have shone a bright light on the lack of depth in the organization — depth that can hopefully be fixed with the development of prospects that appear to have the skillsets to fill the significant holes in the roster.
Absorbing injuries would also become more accessible with the emergence of younger players that can ideally start to make some impact in the bottom six forward group sooner rather than later.