In the understatement to end all understatements, things are not going well for the Edmonton Oilers at the moment. Following Thursday night's 4-3 loss on the road to the Florida Panthers, they are 0-4 since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
Even worse, the Oilers are on an overall five-game losing streak, which is their worst since they lost seven in a row back in 2021-22. (And at least then they picked up two 'loser' points during that sequence.) This is a team in free fall, which has screwed up a favourably position that had them challenging for top spot in the Western Conference with the Winnipeg Jets.
As a result, the Oilers are also experiencing somewhat of a free fall in the various weekly power rankings among the main sports media outlets around North America. If you can stomach it, let's review some of them right now.
An expected drop for the Oilers
We begin with NHL.com's 'Super 16' rankings, which almost sounds like a contradiction in respect of the Oilers specifically, and their poor 5-8-1 record in the past 14 games. As a result of the recent losing streak, which doesn't take into account Thursday's defeat in Florida, they have been moved down from third to eight place.
Among the 14 NHL.com voters on an indiviudal basis, Amalie Banjamin and Derek Van Diest have the most faith in the Oilers, by ranking them at number six. On the flip side, Mike G Morreale has little confidence in them whatsoever, by placing them 15th, which we would contend is almost too low even despite the recent subpar run of form.
NHL.com's weekly theme has them considering what each team needs to add ahead of the Mar. 7 trade deadline, in order to be better. Interesting, Van Diest says the Oilers need a quality defenceman and a depth forward or two, but we disagree, having already stressed the need for an upgrade in goal.
Lowest ranking of all for the Oilers
Next we turn to Bleacher Report, who previously had the Oilers ranked fourth, but drop them even further than NHL.com, to 10th spot. Once again this does not include Thursday's loss to the Panthers, but still reflects the lack of faith in the team at the moment.
Lyle Fitzsimmons mentions how nothing has gone right for the Oilers since Connor McDavid scored the tournament winner at the 4 Nations Face-Off event. In respect of McDavid specifically, he has three assists, no goals and a shocking -7 rating in the four games since the team returned from the break.
Finally we come to Sportsnet, who have also unsurprisingly moved the Oilers down in their rankings, to ninth place. Interestingly, this also represents the team's overall placing in the NHL standings as of Friday morning.
This week's theme has Ryan Dixon looking at each team's general manager situation ahead of the trade deadline, but he doesn't really give any insight into Stan Bowman other than to reference his controversial past. Dixon comments that he'll wait to see how Bowman shapes a roster which came within one win of claiming the Stanley Cup last spring, but that is more a case of moving his review of the GM down the road as opposed to commenting on the situation and the job he's done to date.
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