5 numbers that sum up the Oilers’ first 5 games
By Paul Taylor
A review of five numbers, which help to summarize the Edmonton Oilers’ poor record through five games to begin the 2023-24 season.
With a 1-3-1 start to the season, things are not exactly going as planned for the Edmonton Oilers. More was expected from a team predicted to win the Stanley Cup in 2023-24.
The Oilers have looking alarmingly lacklustre at times through the opening five games. How much of this is on the shoulders of coach Jay Woodcroft is open to debate, but he is undoubtedly under increased pressure, especially when he has arguably the two best players in the game.
On a related note, not helping the situation is the loss of Connor McDavid with an upper-body injury. Fans should just be thankful his absence is only going to be between one and two weeks, although it’s a shame he will likely miss the Heritage Classic.
Regardless, what’s behind the Oilers’ slow start to the season? Here are five numbers which, at least partly, explain why they’ve yet to find their rhythm:
4.00
This is the average number of goals the Oilers have conceded per game, to begin the season. This ranks them tied-fourth worst in the NHL as of Monday morning.
The belief/hope was that the goaltender situation would be better with an improved Jack Campbell, helped by a full season of Mattiash Ekholm on the blue line. Instead, the team appears to have actually regressed in their defensive efforts so far in 2023-24.
-6
This represents the plus/minus rating for Evander Kane through five games, to go along with just one point (an assist). To say more was expected of him this season, would be an understatement.
You can arguably trace Kane’s issues back to early last season, when he suffered a wrist injury which required surgery. Prior to then he’d been an excellent acquisition for the Oilers, hence why he was rewarded with a four-year, $20.5 million extension.
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O
This number signifies exactly how many points Connor Brown has thus far for the Oilers. To many, he was considered the team’s key offseason acquisition, to help strengthen the top six.
In line with Brown’s career-high of 43 points in 2019-20, he was expected to be a complimentary addition rather than a standout performer. Regardless, he’s disappointed to date, potentially still recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury which limited him to only four games last season.
71.4
This is associated with the Oilers’ penalty-kill percentage so far in 2023-24. For some context, this ranks tied-26th in the NHL in terms of their effectiveness with the man disadvantage.
For some further context, consider that the Oilers were ranked 14th last season, with a 83.5 percentage effectiveness. If they can return to even close to this level, then it will benefit the team.
7
This is important, as it refers to how many even-strength goals the Oilers have scored so far this season. It has them ranked as tied-25th in the NHL, along with the Anaheim Ducks and New York Islanders, although the latter has played a game less in comparison.
This presents 53.8 percent of the Oilers’ overall goals, compared to 75.0 percent last season. (This equated to 192 goals, which was tied-fifth most in the NHL.) As a side note, this contradicts one of the more asinine takes, that the Oilers rely too much on the power play for their scoring success.
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Overall, we entirely appreciate five games is a small sample size to be basing our numbers on, and even less so, for any projections for how this season will play out for the Oilers. Regardless, they still at least partly show what’s been going wrong so far in Edmonton.