Which Edmonton Oilers Player Is Going To Take The Biggest Step Forward This Season?

With the Edmonton Oilers, they had a couple of people have the best season of their lives last season. The most notable was Zach Hyman and his 54 goals. Prior to last season Hyman's high in goals was 36, which is a difference of 18 goals. He will likely not make that high of a number ever again, but he doesn't have to with this team.

A team usually will have a couple of players each year that have a big jump from one season to the next, usually, it is a one off, but sometimes something just clicks with a player, and they stay at that high level for a couple of years. There are a few candidates who will be the Edmonton Oilers player to take a big step forward from the previous year, but to me, there is one player who can only get better and we saw a glimpse of it during the playoff run last season.

Connor Brown

There is no doubt that both the Edmonton Oilers organization and Connor Brown were not happy about the season that Brown had last season. In his 71 games played last season, Brown put a dismal 4 goals and 8 assists. While he was recovering from a major injury he was expected to provide much more offense than that. When he was signed he was pencilled in to play winger on Connor McDavid's line, but he did not last there very long.

Things changed though once the playoffs started. In the 19 playoff games he played in on the run, he got 2 goals and 4 assists and finished a +4. It wasn't just the point he put up it was his gameplay that caught the eyes of everyone that was watching him play. He looked like a completely different player in the playoffs. I don't know if that was because he finally got comfortable following his injury or if he got confidence and his mental game got back to normal.

Looking at the way he played in the playoffs, if he works hard this offseason there is no reason for me to not think that he could go back to his old 20 goal/season ways. If he can get back to that the Edmonton Oilers and their fans would be very happy with that.

The poor 2023/2024 season coupled with the glimmer he showed in the post season makes Connor Brown the prime candidate who will make the step forward to me. His mistake free hockey already makes him a solid bottom six player and if he can contribute 30-40 points then he will be the best most valuable player in the Oilers bottom 6.