We’ve technically got one more game to go until the halfway mark, but it’s close enough. We’ve seen an action packed second quarter of the season – the last 15 seasons or so the month of December seems to be the team’s kryptonite. This season was no exception, as the Edmonton Oilers went through two long losing streaks that knocked them out of a playoff spot – for now. They also continued to keep losing players to COVID and the injury bug.
As usual the fans, who have practically made this a cliché by now, have let their passion overwhelm their intelligence by calling for the heads of everyone from Dave Tippett to Bob Nicholson, advocating for trading Darnell Nurse, and yes one person even reached a new level of stupid advocating for trading Connor McDavid – because “we’d get quite a haul in trade for him.”
Probably, but it’s doubtful the trade haul would equal the value that Connor McDavid brings to the team – which is more than just play on the ice (I’m not going to get into this now, because I don’t want to get off topic). This is the worst part of the dry streak by the team – it’s not even the losing, but the insufferable collective drop in IQ points the citizens of Edmonton (the ones who are hockey fans, anyway) display on social media and call in radio shows, as they panic and want to fire everybody.
Good thing Ken Holland is smart enough not to listen to fans, because otherwise the decade of darkness would be going on two decades now.
The Edmonton Oilers Turnaround Came From Within
We’ve also seen the emergence of a couple of surprises from the bottom six who didn’t look out of place in the top six. Warren Foegele I wouldn’t classify as a permanent top six guy, but he is certainly capable of subbing in in the top six while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, who have both been out of the lineup for extended periods of injury, are playing easier minutes on the third line while they get their legs back under them.
The other guy has been the surprise of the season to me – Brendan Perlini. I thought this guy was headed for the scrap heap sooner rather than later, but Dave Tippett surprised the heck out of me by playing him with Connor McDavid for stretches prior to the Evander Kane signing – and he didn’t look out of place. In fact, Perlini actually has three goals in the last five games he’s played. He didn’t dress against Montreal, but there’s more to this guy than I thought.
Then on January 22 it finally happened – the Edmonton Oilers pulled out their first win in over a month. They haven’t stopped since, on a 4 game winning streak at the time of this writing – and look who the hottest team in the division is right now? Yup, it’s us. Anaheim is the only other team at the time of this writing that has even won two straight.
The other thing this team has going for it? Time. With the two in-season breaks we’ve taken due to COVID, the Edmonton Oilers are tied with the Flames for least amount of games played in the division, which means we have games in hand on every team in the division except the Calgary Flames.
Another piece of good news? The Edmonton Oilers have only lost two games all year against other teams in their division, which means if a tiebreaker is ever needed that bodes well for us.
Playoffs Still The Edmonton Oilers Goal
There’s still plenty of time to get back into a playoff spot, and if the Edmonton Oilers can keep winning they’ll be back in a playoff spot sooner rather than later. Right now they are currently only two points out of a wild card spot and seven points out of a regular playoff spot.
They lost a lot of ground during the losing streak, but there’s still lots of time to make that up.
As far as the division itself goes, it doesn’t surprise me that Vegas Golden Knights are at the top and Los Angeles Kings are in the third spot, but it does surprise me that the Anaheim Ducks are still sticking around. It looks to me like they have a few good prospects emerging now and older guys like Kevin Shattenkirk and Ryan Getzlaf are somehow still productive NHLers. The Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames are currently hanging onto the last two wildcard spots, but #herecometheOilers
As you would imagine, the PP and PK have recently taken lumps during the losing streaks, with the PP now only second in the league after the Toronto Maple Leafs overtook us (and the TO media are unlikely to let us forget it….) and the PK has slipped to 20th in the league.
No problem, again still lots of time to turn that around.
Then there was the signing of Kane that came to fruition you’ll read my thoughts on that in a separate blog. He’s already paid dividends by scoring his first goal with the team in his first game.
Can he keep it up? Only time will tell whether the roll of the dice on this guy was worth it.
As you would imagine, Mikko Koskinen has been playing better since he started getting better skater support in front of him. I still think he’s gone by the end of the season, but at least now there’s a chance he’ll salvage his career. Mike Smith is still injured right now, and I have a feeling that next offseason Ken Holland will be looking to possibly replace both goaltenders instead of just one if Smith remains on the shelf for much longer.
Not much to report on defense, except that Tyson Barrie got injured which is unfortunate but we’ve seen a couple more Bouch bombs unleashed as Evan Bouchard continues to push for more playing time.
If that continues will Barrie see himself traded in the offseason? Maybe. It’s a battle that will continue to be worth watching for the rest of the season.