The Edmonton Oilers couldn't have started the new year much better, as they won their first three games of 2025. This included a particularly dominant 4-0 shutout of the Bruins in Boston, which was arguably their best defensive performance of the season to date.
Unfortunately for Edmonton sports fans, and in keeping with this team's propensity for inconsistent play, the Bruins win was followed up with a nightmare in Pittsburgh. The Oilers allowed four goals in the opening 14 minutes and fell behind 5-1 at one point, as they ultimately lost 5-3 to the Penguins.
However, despite this inexcusable loss, the reality remains that the Oilers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL at the moment, with a record of 15-4-1 in their past 20 games. As a result, the confidence in the team is reflected positively in the latest round of power rankings by some of the major sports media outlets in North America.
Finally in the Top 5
We begin with The Athletic (subscription required), who last produced an NHL power ranking on Dec. 20. On that occasion that had the Oilers at number 10, but have now moved them up considerably all the way to the fifth spot, in a telling show of faith.
This week's theme has Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn looking at players who need to step up during the second half of the season, with it being zero surprise that they have selected Jeff Skinner for the Oilers. They reference his struggles highlighted by just 15 points in 40 games, although we will note this includes three in his most recent four games, which could allude to a better 2025 compared to 2024 in Edmonton.
Next, we come to the always interesting 'Super 16' of NHL.com, which on this occasion has moved the Oilers up from eight place to number six. We will add the caveat that this latest ranking does not take into account the Penguins game, although we firmly believe NHL.com still would have had the team in a strong position, albeit possibly keeping them in eighth spot.
Individually speaking there are some surprising rankings of the Oilers by NHL.com's panel of 15 voters, including Mike Zeisberger putting them all the way up in second place, which is just too high in our humble opinion. On the flip side, Mike G. Morreale and Adam Kimelman have the team at 12 and 13 respectively, which is ridiculously low.
As for NHL.com's theme of reasons for optimism and pessimism, they essentially just focus on the positives in Edmonton, highlighting the dominance of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Derek Van Diest also compliments the improved defensive play of Stuart Skinner and the team in general, although again, this was prior to the game in Pittsburgh, which prompted us to write about how the team cannot afford to rest on their laurels despite the recent success.
Even more belief in the Oilers
Sportsnet seemingly have the most belief in the Oilers right now. moving them up from sixth spot to fourth place, which objectively speaking is too optimistic. However, aside from all of these power rankings having a fun element to them, we have to factor in this is a Canadian-based sports media company, which is no doubt desperate to see the Stanley Cup drought north of the border finally ended after 30+ years.
As for Sportsnet's theme, they go with the midway-point MVP for each team, with Ryan Dixon making the smart -- and correct -- choice of Draisaitl in Edmonton. Even McDavid can't compete with a player who leads the NHL with 31 goals at the time of writing, which is six ahead of his nearest competitors. (The Oilers sniper is also second overall in the NHL with 61 points, ahead of Saturday's slate of action.)
Finally we come to ESPN, who we haven't seen a power ranking from for a little while. Irrespective of this, they have the Oilers ranked lowest among this week's sports media outlets, although to be fair we don't think seventh spot is actually an unreasonable placement.
What we also like is ESPN resharing their preseason over-under points total for the Oilers of 108.5, and including the updated projection of 106.0 for some perspective. They go on to make the point that even though Edmonton sits behind some of the other Western Conference powers in the standings right now, McDavid and company are as good as anyone in the league on any given night.
This opinion is of course correct and has been for a few years now, although it was reinforced more than ever after the Oilers came within two goals of winning it all last season. Overall, as much as we believe The Athletic and company are being almost too positive about the team's ranking in the NHL, it's also reflective of just how much confidence there is these days in Kris Knoblauch and his players.