For the second straight season, the Edmonton Oilers have been awful out of the gate. After going 2-9-1 last year after a dozen games, the Oilers have lost their first three games of 2024-25, and in the process have been outscored 15-3. Their compete level, work ethic, team speed, goaltending, intensity and defensive play all deserve failing grades. In the process, the reigning Western Conference champions got clobbered 6-0 to Winnipeg, 5-2 to Chicago, and 4-1 to Calgary, with all three losses coming at home. Here is the reaction on X.
McDavid & Draisaitl will be playing on the same line tonight vs. PHI. With Zach Hyman. #Oilers pic.twitter.com/kEJ0kFzEXJ
— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) October 15, 2024
Due to the poor play so far, the Oilers will be changing their lines. Connor McDavid and Leon Drasaitl will be playing together on Tuesday against Philadelphia. McDavid had 132 points last season, and led the NHL with 100 assists. Draisaitl had 106 points.
As we saw last season, there's no need to panic when it comes to these Oilers. pic.twitter.com/oqEpsm3ViT
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 15, 2024
Oilers captain Connor McDavid of Richmond Hill, Ontario, has already stated, the Oilers are “not quitters.” That is fine, but at the end of the day, there needs to be better consistency on the ice, and at this time, the Oilers are simply not getting it from the current group.
We saw this last year with the oilers, so not totally surprised.
Colorado; wtf, i didn't see that coming— Gary (@ThebostonGary) October 15, 2024
The Oilers are not the only team in the West struggling at this time. The Colorado Avalanche have lost their first three games by a combined total of 20-10, while the Nashville Predators have been outscored 7-3 in losing their first two games.
😭😭😭😭Canucks will be good for regular season. Don’t know how they will fair out for playoffs. Oilers did the same thing last year with a crazy slow start but then McDavid starting doing McDavid things
— G Man chow (@NHLxEPL) October 15, 2024
There is a feeling by many that the Oilers will turn things around and do what they did last year. I am not so sure. The Oilers had an easy January last season and were dominant as a result. So far this season, they lost two games to teams they should beat in the Flames and Blackhawks.
One oft-repeated analysis early this season has been the Oilers are 0-3 because of goaltending. It is an easy but misguided claim. No doubt, the goaltending needs to be better, but the defencemen and forwards are just as guilty of poor play as the go… https://t.co/9jPcr94ETP
— OilerHockey (@oilertweets) October 15, 2024
Like I said in the introduction, the Oilers have been bad in all facets of their game.
This team is an absolute disgrace; the defense core is as awful as I’ve seen in my 40 years as an Oilers fan. The goalies are both mentally weak and can’t be counted on, offense has been awful to start this season and the penalty kill has been an embarrassment. Otherwise great.
— phil (@sheriff40) October 14, 2024
Oilers fans can agree with Phil’s comments. There has been nothing to like over the first three games.
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