The Edmonton Oilers have begun to turn their 2025-26 season around after a very rocky start and as recently as a few weeks ago were on the outside looking in at the Stanley Cup playoff picture.
As well, the Oilers struggled mightily in net having some of the worst goals against numbers and league-wide save percentage. This caused the team to look elsewhere and make changes to their goaltending tandem, swapping Stuart Skinner for Tristan Jarry in a trade with the Penguins, on top of adding an insurance marker in Connor Ingram at the start of the year.
Looking back at last season, the trends are reminiscent of another Stanley Cup contender that struggled, the Colorado Avalanche.
The parallels between the Avalanche and Oilers are clear
On December 9th of last season, the Avalanche made a trade with the San Jose Sharks, acquiring goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood. They dealt away starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev and backup Justus Annunen not long before, with both goalies ending their tenure with a save percentage below .880. These numbers are very similar to the Oilers goalie, Skinner who had an .891 save percentage, even after turning around his season himself.
On a team level, the Avalanche were struggling in many facets of the game, including having a league worst save percentage at 5-on-5 (evolving-hockey.com). Their struggles caused them to be in a poor standings position with a 16-13-0 record for 32 points in 29 games, in the last wild card spot in the Western Conference when they made the trade for Blackwood. A far cry from where they were slated to be having been a consistent cup contending team for years.
By the end of the year, the Avalanche finished with 102 points, good for third place in the Central division and with a 49-29-4 record. The team also saw improvements across the board in their underlying numbers, finishing as a top 10 team defensively.
The Oilers similarly made their trade for Jarry almost exactly one year later, on December 12th and at the time were sitting in the Western conference wildcard. The team was clinging onto their playoff hopes with a 14-11-6 record and 34 points in 31 games.
The club has since improved to a 19-13-6 record and 42 points in 37 games, representing a difference of 5-2-0. Projecting out, this puts them on pace for a 50-plus win season and over 100 points. If this continues and if Jarry can play even close to the level that Blackwood and Wedgewood have, providing the Avalanche with over .910 goaltending, it could be a big difference maker.
There does still need to be improvements made by the Oilers, specifically in suppressing quality chances against but they are currently trending in the right direction.
Oilers can still contend for the Stanley Cup with trades
Although the Avalanche followed up their impressive turnaround with a flop in the postseason, losing a seven game series to the Dallas Stars in the opening round, the Oilers have higher expectations. They have been the runner ups in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals and would hope to get to the finals once again.
This is still quite possible given the trends, especially if the Oilers make further moves to supplement their star core and to improve the team. They already have made a move in the right direction with Jarry and adding Spencer Stastney on their backend.
General manager Stan Bowman could take it a step further, acquiring a rumoured target in Alex Lyon as reported by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman in 32 Thoughts to complete their tandem. Also adding pieces to their depth up front or on the blueline to make the team much more formidable. Similar to his addition of Jake Walman last trade deadline.
Even if they are unable to make the Finals once again, they could emulate the Avalanche even further by becoming one of the best team's next year and look poised to make a deeper run. Either way, the team cannot waste time and must put all their chips in, every chance they get as long as they have stars like Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl on their team.
This is something that the Avalanche recognized with Nathan MacKinnon and are far and away the best team this season.