The Edmonton Oilers dug themselves out of a decade-long playoff drought last season, setting them up to be Stanley Cup favorites heading into 2017-18. With Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl locked up long-term this summer, and with the team making minimal changes to the formula that helped them reach Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs last year, it seemed that this season would be smooth sailing.
However, that’s been far from the case, so far.
A quarter of the way through the season, Edmonton has just nine wins and owns the fourth-worst record in the league, and the team has also lost four of its last five games. Not only that, the Oilers average just 2.67 goals per game, and their power play, despite all their weapons, can’t seem to convert consistently, owning just a 19 percent success rate. To make matters worse, their penalty-killing unit ranks second-worst in the NHL. Two months into the season, it seems everything bad is going on at once, to the point where McDavid’s 10 goals and 30 points in 24 games isn’t even close enough to put out the fire.
Not Enough Secondary Scoring
Edmonton’s lack of scoring depth is one of the main culprits behind their struggles this season. While McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Patrick Maroon are doing their part, accounting for 32 of the team’s 64 goals, the Oilers need to see more secondary scoring from players like Milan Lucic and Ryan Strome, as well as their bottom-six forwards.
“We need to manufacture [bottom-six scoring] and look at their skill set,” said coach Todd McClellan. “Some of them are very good forecheckers and others have the ability to get some tip-ins, deflections and screen-type goals. So, there are ways of manufacturing offence, winning faceoffs and crashing the net. Not scoring is not due to lack of opportunity.”
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One player that should take more accountability is Ryan Strome. The Oilers expected the 24-year-old, acquired this summer from the Islanders in exchange for 20-goal scorer Jordan Eberle, to rebound from years of inconsistency and add more depth and scoring, all while filling the void created by Eberle’s departure.
Strome has points in two of his last three games, but through 24 games, he has just four goals and 11 points, his play both inconsistent and streaky. Perhaps that is to be expected considering his track record with the Islanders.
Also disappointing is the production of Lucic, who has only four goals this season.
Other forwards, like Anton Slepyshev (who has struggled with injuries), Zack Kassian and Iiro Pakarinen, have barely contributed offensively. Slepyshev has one goal, and Kassian and Pakarinen have yet to score this season. Jussi Jokinen, one of the Oilers only NHL free agent signees in the offseason, couldn not find his game in Edmonton, and, in turn, was shipped out for Michael Cammalleri a couple of weeks ago. Cammalleri is also without a goal since the trade, picking up a pair of assists in seven games with the Oilers.
Beyond the top six, Edmonton’s third and fourth line forwards have combined for just 38 points so far, just eight better than McDavid alone. Many of Edmonton’s third and fourth line skaters are also big, physical players, and though they grind and play a hard-hitting game, they could use that mentality to create some scoring chances as well.
With Jesse Puljujarvi now up with the team from Bakersfield and Cammalleri joining the bottom-six, the Oilers have more skill spread out on their four lines. Still, there is a problem when it comes to the composition of the team, especially on the right side, a distinct lack of depth.
Need for More Depth
Not only do the Oilers not have enough depth on the right wing, but with defenseman Andrej Sekera out until at least January, the team doesn’t have much support on the blue line, either.
Because general manager Peter Chiarelli chose not to invest in free agency to replace the pieces he lost over the summer and augment the current roster, the Oilers went with what they had and hoped for the best. Strome suited up as the third-line centre, and 18-year-old Kailer Yamamoto cracked the opening night roster.
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However, Yamamoto struggled to not only adjust to the speed of the league, but living up to heightened expectations as a top-six winger, as well. Yamamoto had his nine-game audition – picking up three assists and recording 23 shots on goal – and is now back with Spokane in the WHL.
Strome, 24, started his Oilers career with one goal in 11 games, and it hasn’t gone much better since.
So, breaking down the Oilers’ forward-line depth, they have Draisaitl, a centre, mainly playing on the first-line wing with McDavid. After that, it appears that Jesse Puljujarvi is next in line, followed by Kassian and Pakarinen, two wingers that have yet to find twine this season.
Woes on Defense
On the blue line, Edmonton struggles without Sekera, and it shows. While Yohann Auvitu was brought in to add more depth, he has yet to secure a spot in the lineup. At the same time, Oscar Klefbom and Matthew Benning are still trying to gain their rhythm this season.
Two Oilers stepped up this season to lead the defense corps. Adam Larsson is the Oilers top d-man, leading the league in hits, with no problem playing top-pair minutes and acting as the team’s shutdown defenseman. Darnell Nurse leads the team with a plus-6 rating, and contributed offensively with 66 shots on goal and seven points through 24 games. The 23-year-old plays nearly 22 minutes per game in a larger role this season.
Still, something has to give, as the right side of the d-corps remains weak, and Larsson and Nurse can’t do it all themselves.
To exacerbate the situation, goaltender Cam Talbot is not himself between the pipes this year. He is 7-10-1 through 18 games, posting a 3.07 GAA and .901 save percentage. A year ago, he finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting last season, while this season Talbot has not been able to find his form.
It is a chicken and egg debate on whether Talbot’s numbers are greatly affected by the porous defense in front of him or if his underwhelming play in goal causes a lack of confidence on a relatively young defense corps in front of him.
Sekera’s return is on the horizon, likely not until January. Getting the 31-year-old healthy and back in the lineup will certainly help, but the Oilers defense must find its chemistry and get back in sync without him, and quick, since Edmonton could very well be eliminated from playoff contention by the time he draws back into the lineup.
What’s the Fix?
Considering the Oilers’ record, as well as their struggles to string wins together and even score goals, the first solution is for the players to step up and find the magic they had just last season.
If Edmonton can’t turn it around in the next few games, then ultimately, changes must be made. Recently, the team shuffled lines, but the biggest issue is that while the Oilers will show success and chemistry one day, it fades the next. So, Edmonton needs to find consistency on their forward lines, and then translate that chemistry to their struggling special teams.
Moving forward, if the current roster proves not to get the job done, then it becomes time to make a trade. And Chiarelli already started this process by acquiring Cammalleri, who is optimistic about his new team’s turnaround this season.
“It’s a team that’s ready to go on the upswing here, hopefully, and play real good hockey” Cammalleri said recently. “They’ve got some of the best players in the world.”