5 Things to be Thankful For: Edmonton Oilers Edition
With it being Thanksgiving in the USA, I thought I would put together a list of 5 things Edmonton Oilers fans should be thankful for. There is more than 5 things to be thankful for as the Edmonton Oilers are off to an excellent start with the top to point getters in the league, but here are my top 5.
1. Connor McDavid
I remember sitting in my living room watching the draft lottery in 2015 hoping that the Oilers would win. One of the more embarrassing sports moments for me was not understanding the golden card. I thought when the Oilers logo showed up that we didn’t get first overall. Everyone else in the room was cheering, but me. It wasn’t till my girlfriend at the time, now wife, asked me why I wasn’t excited that it all sunk in.
Ever since that day the City of Edmonton has been Connor crazy. From scoring highlight reel goals on a biweekly basis to ending the teams playoff drought. There is not much more he could do to make us be more thankful for having him on the roster.
Connor McDavid has 610 points in 426 games in his NHL career and 36 in 19 games this season. He is the most important part of the league’s best powerplay. He can gain the offensive zone almost every time with ease, be that on the powerplay or 5v5. There may be some that say he needs to be better defensively, but when you are as good as he is offensively you create way more than you give up.
2. Leon Draisaitl
Now to the Deutschland Dangler, Leon Draisaitl is a goal scoring machine this year. He seems to be scoring at will. He is currently on pace to get 172 points and 86 goals. We can all agree that both of those things are not going to happen. It does how ever put into perspective how hot of a start Draisaitl is off to.
He is obviously on pace to set new personal records in statistical category. Just when we think that Connor McDavid is going to lead the Oilers in points for the rest of his career here, Draisaitl makes his presence know. Not only does the puck go in the oppositions net when he is on the ice it doesn’t end up in his. This shows up on the +/- stat line, as he leads the Oilers with a +13 which is 5 more than second place.
3. Powerplay
The Edmonton Oilers powerplay is something that will be talked about all year. It currently has a success rate of 38.98%. They have had 59 powerplay opportunities in their 19 games, which is about 3 powerplays per game. With the average it breaks out to one powerplay goal per game.
The way I look at it the Edmonton Oilers basically start every game up 1-0. Currently the average goals per game by team is 2.9. If the Oilers start with one goal on the powerplay per game then they only need to score 2-3 more goals to win the game. This is a huge advantage coming into every game for the Oilers.
4. No Quit
So far this season the Oilers have struggled to have a good start in games. In their last 10 games they have only scored the first goal once. They have won the majority of those games. That is because this team has no quit. If you are watching the game and the Oilers get scored on early, it has gotten to the point where you expect them to come back.
The fact that McDavid and Draisaitl can take the game over and score on demand is a big part of the comeback ability. Another part is the powerplay, the way it is clicking if they are down one early you might as well think of it is tied cause the powerplay is going to get at least one goal.
As much as it is a good thing that they have no quit. I still would like to see them lead a game from start to finish.
5. Defensive Depth
I can remember in the not to recent past where the Edmonton Oilers defensive depth was a real issue. The exact opposite can be said now. This has been proven with all the current injuries on the back end.
With the injuries to Nurse, Koekkoek and Keith there are 3 defense spots that need to be filled. It has only been a few games with the replacement in place, but so far they have fared well. Obviously they aren’t as good as the players they are replacing but having the ability to have players step up and succeed is a sign of a winning organization.
Broberg and Lagesson haven’t looked out of place since being called up. Russell has handled his elevated playing time well also. This is not something I want these three to handle for a long period of time, but for a short period of time they appear to be treading water.
The Edmonton Oilers do not play till Saturday, where they will take on the Vegas Golden Knights. This will be a tougher test than the last couple games, so they need to play well.
Last but not least, Happy Thanksgiving.