3 Players Who Have Something To Prove In The Final Weeks

The Edmonton Oilers are in the home stretch of the NHL regular season. The season as of right now is a success. They will be a playoff team barring a monumentality collapse. The team is playing fairly good right now. The majority of the team is playing the way they need to in the playoffs.

That doesn’t mean that every player has been perfect. The top 6 forwards are playing good and it looks like those 6 players will be locked in that role. They may move around but the top six should stay the top 6.

Connor McDavid, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman, Jesse Puljujärvi, Kailer Yamamoto and Leon Draisaitl are the teams best option for the first two lines. It is the depth positions that are very fluid right now. The only lock in my opinion is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as the 3rd line center.

The Edmonton Oilers still have players that have something to prove this season.

With 8 games left in the season there is very little time left for some players to prove they belong in their role. It is not that the player isn’t an NHL caliber player it is just they can and need to play better.

This breakdown of 3 players that have something to prove is going to breakdown not only what they have done so far this season, but what they will need to do moving forward this season and the playoffs.

Mikko Koskinen

Similar to fellow Fin Jesse Puljujarvi, Mikko Koskinen isn’t playing bad, but if he wants to be a game changer moving forward his game is going to have to improve. This is even more important for him now that it looks like Mike Smith is finding his game again.

At this point in the season I don’t think anyone knows who is going to be the starting goalie on game 1 of the playoffs, not even Jay Woodcroft. That leaves me feeling a bit uneasy about the goalies.

Both the goalies have had some great games and they have had bad games. As of late both have had a majority of the good side of the coin. Earlier in the season, mostly the month of December, there was not a good goalie around this team.

During and after that stretch most people wanted the Edmonton Oilers to call up and run with Stuart Skinner. Obviously Oilers management did not do that. Looking back at it now that was the right thing as both Smith and Koskinen are playing good hockey.

Moving forward the rest of the regular season I think there is more pressure on Koskinen moving forward. If Koskinen wants to be the starter in the payoffs he needs to play much  than Mike Smith. Koskinen has only appeared in 4 playoff style games. He started in 3 of and came in relief in one game play in round games in the COVID shortened season.

I have wrote about it before and I think Smith has the higher ceiling when it comes to play, but he also is way more inconsistent. I think in the playoffs Koskinen may be a better starter because he is more even. The highs may not be as high, but the lows aren’t as low.

If Koskinen lets in a soft goal he doesn’t fall apart and spiral. In past games when Smith lets in a soft goal it is usually followed by him getting pulled. So this is why I think that if Koskinen gets hot now it will be good for the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs.

Zack Kassian

There is no secret that this season hasn’t been the best for Zack Kassian. For this season not to be a complete disaster for him he will need to pick up his play of the Edmonton Oilers.

The last time we saw a Kassian that played the way we would like him to again, was the last playoff run. I remember him throwing his weight around in the San Jose series and thinking he could do no wrong. Fast forward a couple years later and I am now the guy that thinks he can do no right.

To be honest I don’t even know if Kassian should be in the lineup on a night to night basis right now. I now he has it in there, but he just doesn’t seem to be able to find it. If Kassian can find that aggressive game he is going to help this Edmonton Oilers team out.

When Kassian is playing on the edge he makes the other team play timid and causes them to make mistakes. In the playoffs when the game gets rougher and a edge moves closer to that rougher side. That is the place Kassian needs to be.

If the Edmonton Oilers bottom six can make it tough for the competition then it will be up to the top 2 lines to make the difference out there. That is something the Edmonton Oilers want to have happen, because if you have Draisaitl and McDavid centring those two lines you are likely winning the head to head battle.

I personally think that the three players mentioned above can be a big part of the team. If they can find their top level game they should really help move the needle in the direction of an Edmonton Oilers win in every game.