Oilers: 3 Things To Watch Going Into The New Season
The 2021-22 Edmonton Oilers opening night roster has been set and released, and practices have begun to prepare the team for the long eighty-two game schedule ahead of them. A strong showing in preseason is a promising start to the year, and definitely a confidence booster for the team, and for some fans who have a lot of doubts about how much of a contender the team will be. There are three items I want to cover in this article, as I believe they are the main storylines to watch and keep track of this season, if the team wants success.
Edmonton Oilers: McDavid and Draisaitl on the Same Line:
The chemistry between two elite level players on the same team can often times be a toss up. One player wants to outshine the other, one player begins complaining and wants to be on a different line, there’s many scenarios where two stars don’t mesh well on the same team let alone the same line. This is exactly the opposite of the case with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who have shown in the past they work quite well together, and feed off of each other’s success.
The elite level powerplay the Oilers have only got better this offseason, bringing in a solid net front presence in former Leafs forward Zach Hyman. Aside from that, Hyman was expected to be McDavid’s winger on a line that saw the two paired up with Puljujarvi. This hasn’t been the case at recent team practices though, as Hyman has moved down and slotted into the second line spot with Yamamoto. McLeod is also on that second line for now, and may play there if Nugent-Hopkins isn’t ready to go for the season opener.
The two stars playing on the same line on 5v5, has some fans skeptical, and I can see why. Advanced stats have shown the two play better apart, then together when it’s even strength. On top of that, Zach Hyman was brought in for the purpose of having someone who can keep up, and play with McDavid, and it wouldn’t have to force Tippett’s hand in moving Draisaitl up, or having them change the lines randomly mid game.
I don’t think the two will stay together very long, as it became obvious over the past couple of seasons that a line of Yamamoto, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins is one of, if not the most dangerous second line in the NHL. But if they do end up sticking together, they’ll have to find a way to keep the offensive production through lines 2-4. Management is counting on new guys like Hyman, Foegele and Ryan to put up some points to spread out the scoring, as offensive depth is something the Oilers have seriously lacked in the past few seasons. If Tippett and the Oilers are thinking about having Draisaitl and McDavid together for the season, I don’t see it working as well as some may think. Sure they do well on the powerplay, but 5v5 they need to be split up.
As much as I’ve spoken negatively about Koskinen, and how much he should be traded for assets, he performed extremely well in the preseason, and has given doubters, including myself, a small glimmer of hope. Not only that, every goalie the Oilers played in the preseason performed really well:
Mike Smith: .965sv%
Mikko Koskinen: .933sv%
Stuart Skinner: .920sv%
Ilya Konovalov: .885sv%
Although he was never really fighting for an NHL spot, Konovalov impressed me. Posting an .885sv% is incredible for someone his age with his first real taste at the big leagues. I don’t think he’ll be in the minors for many more seasons before he earns at least a backup spot in the Oilers rotation.
As far as Mike Smith goes, I didn’t expect anything less. I fully expected him to continue where he left off last season, and perform at an elite level where he will be, yet again, pushing for Vezina Trophy votes at the end of the year.
Mikko Koskinen as I mentioned, shocked me. He’s our backup going into the new season, and for the first time since 2019, I’m not worried about him coming in for relief of our starter. He’s improved his glove hand slightly, he doesn’t seem as shaky as he did last season, and he’s worked on his body language, not freaking out after being scored on and simply re focusing on the task in front of him.
Now the most exciting part of the goaltending depth is Stuart Skinner, who to no shocker was sent down to Bakersfield to be their starter again. Seeing him do as well as he did in the preseason puts me at ease, if either of our two goaltenders were to get injured, Skinner how has the experience he gained last season, and has also improved in every aspect of his game. I’d say he’s a season away from being a full time NHL goalie.
There is nothing to worry about when it comes to the Oilers forward depth. Trading for Foegele, signing Ryan, Perlini and Hyman, re-signing Shore, and having McLeod and Benson as the extra forwards makes the Oilers one of the most dangerous forward groups, if not the best, in the entire league.
As far as the defensive depth goes though. Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Tyson Barrie and Slater Koekkoek all performed really well and look really strong going into the new year. My worry starts with Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci. Ceci was brought in for four years north of three million a season, while Duncan Keith still has two years left on his contract, at over five million a season. To put it nicely, they both looked underwhelming during the preseason.
Nurse and Barrie are locks for the top D pairing, while Koekkoek and Bouchard will likely take up the bottom pairing to start the year. This leaves Keith and Ceci as the Oilers second D pairing, and together they looked brutal. Obviously bringing in some veteran leadership was a huge addition to the team, and I standby my previous statements that bringing both players in were smart moves, but they really need to fix their defensive play. Watching them together for the first time was tough. Allowing multiple odd man rushes, losing a lot of small battles and showing little to no intensity on back checks near the end of shifts.
Hopefully they can improve during the regular season, but I can’t see them staying together, let alone in the lineup for a long time if they played the way they did during the preseason. Ceci with a different partner could definitely succeed, and I would love to see him and Bouchard switch places so Keith gets a young partner who can bail him out of mistakes, and Ceci gets a partner who is looking to prove himself more than ever, in Slater Koekkoek.
My ideal D lineup, after watching the preseason would be:
Nurse-Barrie
Keith-Bouchard
Koekkoek-Ceci