There has been a lot of talk about what the Oilers need to do to look like a Stanely Cup Contender. Tighter defense, reduced giveaways in the defensive zone is a given and better goaltending. It is only 22 games into the season but poor 5 on 5 defensive play habits need to be washed out soon. Many believe that teams are positioned for the playoffs past American thanksgiving next week.
If so, the reigning Stanley Cup champions are 6 spots outside of playoff spot and the Edmonton Oilers are 3 spots out. Both are not playing up to where they did in the playoffs. We know fully well that both can play better and will most likely will do so soon. Florida is missing Barkov, Kulikov and Tkachuk, so it is understandable that they are not doing well. But the Oilers have no excuses.
We have seen very poor 5 on 5 defensive play for most of the 22 games that has resulted in them being in 23 spot in the league and outside the race for the wild card spot. This poor defensive play cannot be blamed on a few players but blame to both the forwards and defence.
Andrew Mangiapane has a plus/minus of minus-15, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is minus-11, Trent Federic and Darnell Nurse with a minus-8. Evan Bouchard has a minus-5 so is not doing too bad contrary to what many believe. Connor McDavid is starting to improve his but is still in the negatives at minus-3 whereas Leon Draisaitl is at plus-8.
So, many need to improve and tighten up defensively. Not only improve positionally, but physically. In several games, they are being beaten to the puck, pushed off the puck and the puck ends up in their net. In the Washington game last night they were pushed off the puck and Skinner flopped down for at least 3 goals. They lost 7-4 with two open net goals in the last minute so not a horrible game but they need to maintain possession of the puck and not get it taken away from them. That seems to be the trend this year and they are losing games!
Oilers goalie tandem is struggling
I, like others, have given Stuart Skinner a chance to improve. There is a new goalie coach but what is he really teaching Skinner? Most of the goals scored on him are above his shoulders as he is going down too fast with bad anticipation of where the puck will be. This is his MO and does not appear to be going away.
He is very tall and broad so stand up! All players must know he will go down as soon as the offensive players hit the defensive face-off dot and they just send it high. If I was his goalie coach, I would encourage him to stand up and face the shooter. It cannot be any worse than it is now. This habit of his does not win games and does not give Edmonton a chance to win games – prime example in the 7-4 loss to the Capitals.
Calvin Pickard is having a rough season with a goals against average of above four per game. The coaches and management must see this statistic and should bring in Connor Ingram here before we sink further away from a wild card spot.
Positive play creeping through
We saw a lot of positives in the game against the Capitals last night. Strong powerplay and penalty kill as well quickly scoring to come within one goal of tying the game. But, poor positional play on defence with a below average goalie in net nullified their comeback attempts. The offence is doing their part…the defense and goaltending need to do theirs. We have heard this a lot but it is the story of the first quarter of the Oilers season.
We know the Oilers can tighten up defensively and score goals when needed but they seem to be saving it for the later part hoping to save their energy for the playoff rounds. Interestingly, apart from Colorado, no one team is running away from the standings race and on any given night team positions can change by two-to-four spots. Many teams have a chance of making the playoffs and, if this trend continues, scoring goals will be imperative for breaking ties.
Oilers slowly improving production but still not enough
The Oilers offensive is scoring more lately then in the first 10 games. When compared to the two youngest teams, The Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, the Oilers have had 6/22 games with four or more goals scored for and a minus-12 goal differential. The Chicago Blackhawks have had 6/19 games with four or more goals scored with a plus-15 goal differential while the San Jose Sharks have had 7/20 games with four or more goals scored and a minus-six goal differential.
The top team in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, have had 12/19 games with four or more goals scored for and a plus-31 goal differential. So, Edmonton is under performing and if they keep under performing they will not be a playoff team.
Oilers special teams have continued to improve
At the beginning of the year I commented on the need to improve the special teams. The Oilers are using the new players to improve both the penalty kill and powerplay to a tune of 81.8 percent (tied for 11th) and 30.9 percent (3rd). This has been great and will be vital in March headed into the playoffs.
They seem to have their swagger and confidence back and new players like David Tomasek and Jack Roslovic have greatly helped the PK and PP. With Hyman back we should see the PP rise to the top of the league. We all hope this trend continues.
Oilers at home more coming up
November saw them on the road for 10/15 games playing some tough games. Let’s hope they will perform well for the hometown crowd. As they approach December the Oilers have had stronger games. I can see signs of several lines working well and the new players have fit in well. I hope head coach Kris Knoblauch does let the lines working together and get to know each other well.
We need to be four lines deep and get the ready for the playoffs if indeed we make it. The most important position we need to strengthen is the goalie position in the next few month AND before the March trade deadline. I hope they find a solution to this soon as we need better goaltending to win games. This team has the talent to go deep into the playoffs and they will get themselves in a Stanley Cup contending team (eventually).