Are the Edmonton Oilers forwards (already) better than last season?

This is the third and the last of a three-parts article analyzing the differences between the 2021-22 Edmonton Oilers, who got to the Western Conference Finals and this season team, who all the supporters root for getting even further.

The first part is just about the goalie position, with all the changes from last year, and you can read it here. The second is focused on the Oilers’ defense, and you can check it on the link here.

This article will be all about the forwards of the Edmonton Oilers

If the defense and the goalies were the main issues last season, we absolutely can’t say the same about the offensive side of the team.

The Oilers got into the Western Conference Finals and can dream about winning the whole thing most due to his forwards.

And we can’t talk about it and don’t mention Connor McDavid. With only 25 years old he is already a generational player and always get mentioned on discussions about the greatest of all time. And last season he finally returned to fell how it is to be on a deep playoff run, what he didn’t felt since the 2017 playoffs.

He is motivated.

He knows the time to win is now.

He comes from one of his best seasons, with 123 points in just 80 games on regular season winning the Art Ross Trophy for the 4th time in his career.

Connor and the whole Oilers organization were in need of a good playoff run. And that’s exactly what happened last year.

With 33 points in only 16 games, he led the NHL playoffs in points even playing only until the Western Conference Finals.

These amazing stats brought also some unforgettable moments for every Oilers’ fan, such as his OT goal on game 5 to eliminate the Flames at the Saddledome, which we’ll never be tired of watching.

We already know Connor can be the best player on ice in every single game he plays. If we add more fuel to his playing abilities, a great and stable coaching staff and a reliable defense, he can keep improving, keep getting more and more individual trophies but mostly, be confident to finally win it all for Edmonton.

But not even Wayne Gretzky won his four Stanley Cups by himself, and for sure Connor won’t as well. But he has excellent players alongside him, and one of the most essential players for the team is Leon Draisaitl.

The 3rd pick of the 2014 draft is coming from his best scoring season, with 55 goals in 80 games played on regular season, and just as Connor McDavid, he finally got to fell once again how sweet it is to play hockey in the post season, having 32 points in 16 games, only behind the 33 points McDavid had. As we can see by his numbers:

When it comes to Leon Draisaitl, there’s a fairly good chance he’ll continue producing at the rate he’s been at over the last few seasons. He’s clearly in his prime, has done well staying healthy and has put up 304 all-situation points in 207 games over the last three seasons. That’s second only behind Connor McDavid (325 points) and 50 points ahead of third place Jonathan Huberdeau (254 points). Feels like 100 points is a reasonable target for the 24-year-old, and there’s a good chance he’ll surpass that.

But nobody can forget that the Draisaitl we all saw playing great was an injured Draisaitl. We can only imagine (for now) and hope to see what the German is capable of do when healthy and more motivated than ever. Here is what Leon said about his injury on the playoffs:

“The game after, I was trying to push off and I just had no pop, no jump,” the superstar said during an interview on Sportsnet’s “32 Thoughts: The Podcast.” “I was getting frustrated with it because I was like, ‘I can’t beat guys, I don’t know what to do now.’ … I just had to change my game a little bit, slow it down even more, if that’s even possible.” He said his status was questionable ahead of the Oilers’ series-clinching win against Los Angeles. “I actually skated in the morning … to try and test it out, and it was awful. It was so bad, I could barely stand up,” he said. “But, then the adrenaline kicks in and you’re warming up and you see 10,000 people in the stands already. … It becomes a lot easier.”

Let’s talk now about the ones who almost left the team for this season and were set to an arbitration for their contract, which are Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto.

Starting with Puljujarvi, he just signed a one-year contract and we all know he isn’t the player who the primary stats tell the whole story.

With only 3 points on 16 GP played of the NHL playoffs, the 4th overall pick of the 2016 draft can for sure produce more on the ice, especially playing with McDavid and Draisaitl, but he’s nothing near a bad NHL player. His forecheck, number of pucks recovered and his defensive playing are among the best on the league, as we can see on the stats below.

Puljujarvi is Edmonton’s best forechecker, as his forecheck pressures per hour rank higher than 97% of the NHL. Alongside this, Puljujarvi’s offensive zone takeaways, zone exit, and puck retrieval stats rank well above average as well. it was mentioned that SportLogIQ (a proprietary data company that numerous NHL teams use) placed Puljujarvi in the top-third of the league in offensive zone pucks recovered, rebounds recovered, and puck battle wins. This is the primary explanation for Puljujarvi’s marvellous 5v5 defensive metrics. He does an excellent job at forcing turnovers, retrieving pucks, winning board battles, and keeping the play in the offensive zone for his linemates, resulting in superb possession results. In 2021-22, the McDavid line allowed 1.5 goals against per hour with Puljujarvi, while they allowed 2.9 goals against per hour without Puljujarvi.

With Kailer Yamamoto, he signed a 2-year contract and comes from one of his best years on the team, scoring 20 goals and 41 points in regular season, but on the playoffs he had 7 points on 14 GP, with a plus-minus of -6.

Such as Puljujarvi, we know he has the potential to produce even more with time and good coaching. Yamamoto’s potential already was presented to the world with the “DRY Line” of 2019-20 with him, Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins, which gave Draisaitl a Hart Memorial, Art Ross and Ted Lindsey award that season and showed that Yamo can score 26 points in only 27 games.

He can not only be better, but make the other players around him better too, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the bottom 6 this season, playing with even younger players, such as Ryan McLeod and Dylan Holloway.

Speaking of them, the two are everyday proving to be already not only the future of the franchise, but the present.

McLeod was another one who took some time to renew his contract with the Oilers, but for the team, it was an excellent value, with $798.000 but for only one year.

We can be sure that “clouder” will give everything he can to play even more minutes after his rookie season. And if playing with McDavid or Draisaitl isn’t enough motivation, he can work his way to get a lot of more money next season.

The kid is fast, skilled and has already proved to be a NHL player. We can only expect him to improve even more in this and next seasons

And we can’t talk about the future of the Edmonton Oilers without talking about Dylan Holloway. After spending so much time injured, he showed in the AHL and in the few games in the Rookie Camp and in Pre-Season that it is worth to give him a place in the big league.

Apart from that, the amount of experience he can get with a good offensive team like the Oilers and such a good coach staff with Jay Woodcroft, who knows pretty well how to develop prospects is amazing. It is already the time to see the kid getting some minutes, even in the top 9.

On the bottom lines, such as every year, we can expect a good competition for some ice time with the Oilers. Names like Warren Foegele and Derek Ryan are probably getting this spot at first, along Mattias Janmark, who just arrived in the team.

But Tyler Benson, Greg McKegg, Devin Shore and even Brad Malone will never take their eyes off the price. Beyond them, a lot of prospects are working each day in Bakersfield to get there as well, such as Colton Sceviour or even younger ones, like Seth Griffith, Cooper Marody and Xavier Bourgault.

Dylan Holloway deserves the opportunity in the bottom six this season, and Devin Shore has proven himself to be a decent player in that role as well. On top of that, guys like Tyler Benson, Brad Malone and Seth Griffith can play the bottom 6 role whenever called upon, leaving a bit of a log jam having 4-5 guys who can play in the NHL, but only using 1-2 of them. Moving Foegele not only clears up some space to make another move, but would add some draft capital, or even a depth defender that the Oilers have been looking for this summer. Coming to mind immediately would be Carson Soucy from the Seattle Kraken, although the Oilers would likely have to toss in a bit more on their end.

To summarize all the three articles, are the Oilers better than last season?

The answer is: ABSOLUTELY 

McDavid and Draisaitl can be playing the best hockey of their careers, Hyman and Kane are ready to give everything on ice to help the team. Puljujarvi and Yamamoto are great, but want to prove it to the world. New names like McLeod and Holloway are getting there. The competition for bottom 6 places is great.

The defense is the one who got the biggest evolution from last year. Nurse can be a marvelous defender, and wants to prove it too. Ceci, Kulak and mostly Bouchard can have their best season in stats. And Jack Campbell finally gives us a unanimous first goalie, but with Stuart Skinner in the backup position, this can change in some years.

The expectations are high for the season that is about to start, and every Oilers’ fan who watched last decade’s games deserves to feel this positive felling. The Oilers can finally fight for the Stanley Cup again!!

#LetsGoOilers