4 Oilers bold predictions for December
By Paul Taylor
3) Oilers will be in a playoff spot
We’ll admit it — how could we note when it’s in print on this site — that we thought the Oilers were dead and buried. That they were officially broken and had no chance of making the playoffs.
This was based on the Oilers starting the season with a 5-12-1 record through 18 games. While not as bad as in 1993-94, when they had a 3-14-1 at the same point, the writing appeared to be on the wall.
There was theoretically some hope, given the Oilers had made the playoffs in 1979-80 and 1990-91, despite respective records of 3-11-4 and 5-11-2 through 18 games. However, this was back in the days when the NHL decided that 16 of the 21 teams should qualify for the playoffs.
The Oilers just seemed to be in disarray, with horrific defensive play and the fallout from seemingly firing Jay Woodcroft too soon, almost forgetting all the good work he’d done the previous two seasons. To make matters worse, CEO Jeff Jackson’s handpicked replacement Kris Knoblauch, was on a three-game losing streak after winning his first two games as Oilers coach.
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The Oilers were sitting 10 points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and they weren’t even a quarter of the way through their schedule. All hope appeared lost for a team which was considered a genuine Stanley Cup contender during the preseason.
Then something happened, as if a switch was suddenly flipped on. The Oilers got their first shutout of the season, versus the Capitals, and they were off and running.
As mentioned already, the Oilers then dominated the Ducks 8-2 and followed this up with an important win versus last season’s Stanley Cup champions. Throw in the 3-1 win over the Jets in Winnipeg, and the Oilers are now on their first four-game winning streak of the 2023-24 campaign.
As a result of this, the Oilers have crept to within five points of a playoff spot at the time of posting. This team is now playing more like what was expected, so don’t be surprised to see them continue to close the gap and find themselves in a playoff spot in the coming weeks.