Oilers Need To Be Ready To Take A Step Forward In 2021
By Jim Lynch
The Edmonton Oilers need to take a step forward this season.
After failing to win a postseason game in 2021 and failing to win the play-in series against Chicago in 2020, the Oilers need to change something in 2021-22. Being a good regular-season team is a tag they are starting to get.
Teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs have been called fake playoff teams before. They are great during the regular season but always fail to do anything in the postseason. Another example used to be the Washington Capitals until they eventually did win their Stanley Cup.
Fans will not know what type of team the Oilers are until the postseason. In the regular season, there should be little doubt that they have success. They are in the Pacific Division, definitely not the strongest division in the entire league.
So that means they should be a top-tier team during the regular season, easily putting up 100 points and securing a playoff spot with home ice. It is what happens after the playoffs begin that matters the most for the Oilers.
It only takes one game to lose home-ice advantage. Team’s battle all season long to secure their spot in the postseason, and secure a high seed to get home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
Edmonton lost that home ice after just one game in 2021, and it did little for them when the playoffs were held in their building in 2020. This year with fans back in the stands and a regular hockey season in full swing, it is up to the Oilers to get this group to the next level.
They need to be tougher to play against physically and defensively. Rather than relying on one or two offensive stars, the team needs to take the entire roster to another level, and I think the different additions Ken Holland made helped in serving that goal.
The crazy thing is, we won’t know until April whether or not the Oilers are a true playoff team, or if this is just going to be another season where they lose early and are out of the playoffs by round two.