We win

Depth scoring

Give GM Ken Holland credit for one thing – he sure knows how to remake the bottom six corps of forwards in short order.

Between the Edmonton Oilers signing of Evander Kane mid-season, who really seemed to complete the top six, and the remake of the bottom six into three legitimate scoring lines and one fourth line capable of providing both energy and secondary offence, the Edmonton Oilers had better teams than either of the ones who took on Chicago or Winnipeg the past two seasons.

The Oilers had 12 different goal scorers in this series and only four players who didn’t provide any offence at all during the series – and of those four players, only one, Warren Foegele, was a regular in the bottom six. Not surprisingly Jay Woodcroft took him out of the lineup altogether in game seven.

Compare this to last year’s team that took on Winnipeg, who had only seven players score goals, only 13 players who produced points, and nine players with no offence at all – including four regulars.

I’d like to think this season’s edition of the Edmonton Oilers would’ve fared much better against the Jets last year. Even going by players who scored multiple goals in the playoffs is in stark contrast to last year. Last year, only Leon Draisaitl scored more than one goal in the playoffs, while this year five players – McDavid, Kane, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman – scored more than once in the series.

Depth scoring is a key ingredient to win in the playoffs, and this year the Oilers got it.