What’s behind the Oiler’s recent run of losing?
By Phil Gretzky
The good news is the Edmonton Oilers still have time right now. We’re barely a quarter of the way through the season, and we’ve had a full training camp and will have a full season of practice under Jay Woodcroft and the rest of his staff. There’s still time as we have 60 games left in the season. As long as we haven’t fallen too far behind – which we haven’t so far – we’ll be fine. We’re only three points behind LA for the last playoff spot and Seattle is unlikely to be as good as they are now all season, and I believe ditto for Vegas. First place in the division is still up for grabs. The standings aren’t permanent until the end of the season. It’s not uncommon for good teams for start slow and then as they get their games together they leave the lesser teams in their wake. I think that’s what going on with the Edmonton Oilers now.
Once the Edmonton Oilers can get healthy they’ll be a great force to reckon with. Also recently the Oilers have called up Philip Broberg and sent down Markus Niemelainen to generate some more offence from the bottom of the roster. Broberg is now healthy and ready to take his place on the bottom pairing. Niemelainen didn’t play badly, he’s just not the player type that’s going to win us games right now. He’ll be back in time, no problem.
And remember, it could be worse. You could be the Calgary Flames. They came into the season with a lot of hype, but their script is playing out pretty much exactly as I expected.
The Windy City beckons for the Edmonton Oilers today. Let’s see how they do.