2 Major Players That Will Be Taking A Step Back This Season
A lot of players had excellent seasons points-wise for the Oilers in 2023-24, but I think there is going to be a couple of players that will take a step back.
Heading into this season, the Oilers are going to be looking for a couple of players to keep their career high stats up. While there is a chance that those players do, I think there are going to be at least 2 players that are going to be taking a step back. Here is my best guess at which two of those players will be.
Zach Hyman
Last season Zach Hyman had a nearly perfect season when it came to his stats. He scored 54 goals and added 23 assists for a total of 77 points. While I think Hyman’s point total will be similar, I do think that he is going to take a significant hit in the goals problem. It is not because he won’t be as successful at scoring when he gets an opportunity, but with the new additions this offseason the overall goals will be spread around a bit more.
The next highest goal scoring winger last season was Evander Kane and he got 24 goals. With the additions of Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson, there will be more players who confidently have the ability to score goals. I still expect Hyman to get around 30 goals, but I think the 50 mark is just too much for them to get this season now that there is more skill in the top 6.
Evander Kane
The first note that is going to affect Kane’s output is his health. There is still a huge question mark around if he is going to have surgery or if he is going to be ready to start the season. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if he goes on LTIR or not, I think he is still going to take a step back in his stats.
While Kane was also unhealthy last season with his sports hernia, he was able to score 24 goals last season. For Kane, that is about average for what he has put up in his career per season. Just like what I said is going to affect Hyman’s goal output, I think that is going to cause issues for Kane. The good news for Hyman is he will still be in the top 6, but for Kane, I think he will be in the bottom 6 when this team is fully healthy. That alone is going to hurt the numbers Kane will be putting up.
Next. What type of season to expect from Jeff Skinner with the Oilers. What type of season to expect from Jeff Skinner with the Oilers. dark
While both of these players are still going to be a big part of this team’s success this coming season and hopefully help them in their push to win the Stanley Cup, I do not expect them to have as good a season as they just had. This is the type of thing that happens when a team starts to get better, the stats get spread out around more.
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