Edmonton Oilers: 2021-2022 Regular Season Starts Today
Tonight is the first regular-season game for the Edmonton Oilers in the 2021-2022 season.
This year is a season where the Oilers need to have a good start to the season. After starting last season 4-6 in the first 10 games of the season the Edmonton Oilers ended the season 35-19-2 and finished second in the North Division. The slow start last year could have had to do with the lack of preseason hockey.
Preseason Plays a Role
This preseason the Oilers went 6-1-1 through the 8 games. The two losses came on the road where they didn’t play most of their top regular season players. In the games where they played their top players, they won and those players looked good in doing so.
Another thing that was affected by no preseason last year was the addition of Tyson Barrie on the power play. In the first few games of the season, you could see that the Oilers’ power play wasn’t in a groove. Once Barrie found his swing on the power play it was back to being the league’s best.
Oilers Goaltending Will Not Be a Problem
Last season Mike Smith had a save percentage of 0.923% and Mikko Koskinen had a 0.899%. After starting 12 of the 13 games to start the season, Koskinen had a heavy workload to start the season off. This year there will be no need for either goalie to play that much.
I believe that both goalies will play a fairly even amount of games with Mike Smith getting the slight edge. With Mike Smith’s age and Koskinen requiring fewer consecutive starts, it only makes sense.
More Forward Depth
In the 56 games, last season the Edmonton Oilers forwards scored 150 goals. Of the 150 goals Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Puljujarvi scored 95 of the 150. That means that the rest of the forwards averaged less than one goal a game. The additions of Zach Hyman and Warren Foegele will help raise the depth scoring numbers.
Battle of the Best
Having the best player in the league in Connor McDavid and arguably the second-best player as well in Leon Draisaitl on your team is a good thing. As much as each of those two want the other to succeed, human nature will make them want to be better than each other. After seeing Draisaitl score 50 goals a couple of seasons ago, I think McDavid will want to break that barrier.
Having them each wanting to be the best player will push each of them to get better. Which is quite a scary thought for the rest of the league. Also with the extra forward depth, I can see them playing with each other a lot more often this season than in the past.
Higher Expectations
This year isn’t just about making the playoff, it is about having playoff success. The Edmonton Oilers will need to win at least one playoff round for this season to not be considered a failure. With all the changes made to the roster and money being spent, the team will not stand for more failure. If they have a bad start to the season I would keep an eye on Ken Holland to make a coaching change.
Looking at the first month of the season and who the Oilers are playing I do not think there will be much of an issue with the Oilers banking some early points in the standing. Now it is finally time to sit back and watch this team play meaningful games for the first time in months.