Are You Ready?
Opening night for the Oilers is only two sleeps away! Will this be the year the Oilers finally return to the playoffs?
Below is a roundup of previews of the Oilers’ 2014-15 season from ten popular hockey websites. What do the “experts” foresee for the Oilers? The consensus opinion is that the Oilers will improve but still will not be good enough to qualify for the playoffs. (Isn’t that what everyone said last year?)
The Roundup
TSN – “TSN.ca’s 2014-15 NHL Season Preview: Edmonton Oilers”
The paragraph below raised some eyebrows. No one disagrees that Nail Yakupov regressed in his second season, but was it due to a lack of dedication?
Yakupov is entering the final year of his rookie deal and you can bet that the first-overall pick in 2012 is well aware of the lengthy extensions already given to Eberle, Hall and Nugent-Hopkins before him. Yakupov regressed badly last season. While his skill level has never been in question, his work ethic is something the young winger must address immediately. His minus-33 rating was fourth worst in the NHL last season.
Sportsnet – “NHL 2014-15 Preview: Edmonton Oilers”
Sportsnet gives the Oilers an off-season grade of B+ and believes that head coach Dallas Eakins begins the season on the hot seat.
As for Eakins, he’s in his second season here and needs some signs of success to go with his air of confidence. He needs to get this franchise moving. Not now, but right now.
THN – “THN’s 2014-15 NHL Season Preview: Edmonton Oilers”
The Hockey News thinks the Oilers will improve this season but predict them to move up only one spot in the Pacific Division.
Like Calgary, the Oilers will face a lot of California creamin’ this season. As much as we liked Edmonton’s chances of moving up the standings the past few years, we now think the team is capable of making positives strides forward, but that’s coming on an escalator that’s moving downhill. Any gains the Oilers make this season will have to be in the form of spiritual and psychological advancement rather than in the standings.
Yahoo Sports – “Puck Daddy’s NHL 2014-15 Emoji Preview: Edmonton Oilers”
There are a few humorous bits in this preview. Puck Daddy says that the “potential worst thing” about the Oilers is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins:
It’s Year 4, and we’re still waiting for the Nuge to become the complete center he’s projected to become. The faceoff percentage remains too low, he’s undersized and he’s yet to reach the point-per-game pace Hall has.
ESPN – “Edmonton Oilers: Hoping for Improvement”
Pierre LeBrun sees the Oilers heading in the right direction:
For the Oilers to make the playoffs, they’d have to surpass the likes of Dallas, Colorado and Vancouver. As MacTavish himself said, the true measure of success this season will be to see tangible growth as a team, a club headed in the right direction. That’s good enough.
Grantland – “2014-15 NHL Preview: The No-Clue Division”
Sean McIndoe puts the Oilers in the “No-Clue Division,” meaning that, in his mind, the Oilers are one of eight teams “with the widest range of possible outcomes.”
Best case: Finally, mercifully, all that promise starts to click. The offense takes off, and the goaltending is good enough to cover up some of those youthful mistakes. They sneak into the playoffs, or at least come close enough to give their long-suffering fans something to cheer for.
Worst case: Oiler fans know it well by now. Another lost season could spell the end of coach Dallas Eakins after just two years on the job, and would probably force MacTavish into finally following up on that promise to start tearing up the young core. Then what? Can Oiler fans really be expected to sit through yet another rebuild?
Bold prediction: The Oilers are the fourth-best team in Canada, which represents progress even though it still leaves them outside the postseason.
SI – “Pacific Division 2014-15 Preview: Edmonton Oilers”
SI foresees the Oilers finishing sixth in the Pacific Division. Guess who they mention as the Oilers most enigmatic player?
Riding the advanced analytics wave with the hiring of blogger Tyler Dellow, the Oilers hope they’re finally figuring everything out. Patience has worn thin with the ultra-talented but enigmatic Nail Yakupov, a player who is capable of scoring 40 goals but saddled with concerns about his attitude, yet he remains an integral part of the Oilers’ vision of a high-flying, young offense that also features budding stars Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. If coach Dallas Eakins can nudge Yakupov into the production he’s capable of and improve last season’s woeful defense that basked in the glow of more red lights than any other team, the Oilers may at last commence the upward trajectory their fans have been waiting for.
CBS Sports – “2014-15 NHL Season Preview: Pacific Division”
According to CBS Sports, Eakins is the Oilers’ X-factor:
Dallas Eakins did not have a great year behind the bench in his first stint as an NHL head coach. What he learned from last season and how he fixes what didn’t work last year has as much to do with the Oilers’ success as the players’ performance. This team was poor in just about every facet of the game. Part of that is personnel, part of that is the coach. Eakins has always seemed like a progressive coach, so whatever it is he learned from last season could go a long way in making him a better coach this year.
CBC – “Edmonton Oilers: 2014-15 NHL Season Preview”
CBC gives its best and worst-case scenarios for the Oilers:
Best-case scenario: Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth form an effective goalie tandem in their first full season together; GM Craig MacTavish’s changes to the defence help while young Justin Schultz shows he can anchor a blue-line; and the Oilers’ goal prevention improves from porous to passable. Meanwhile, fifth-year forward Hall puts up even bigger numbers and proves his early-career injury issues are behind him; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle blossom into stars; Yakupov buys into a two-way game; and the Oilers make the playoffs for the first time since their run to the Cup final in 2006.
Worst-case scenario: The advice of new analytics hire Tyler Dellow is ignored by the old-school MacTavish as the Oilers’ possession struggles continue and a weak defence makes life miserable for Scrivens and Fasth. Hall is unable to stay on the ice; Yakupov is traded for peanuts after another clash with the coaching staff; Edmonton misses the playoffs again and provincial rival Calgary lands phenom Connor McDavid in the draft lottery.
Bleacher Report – “Complete Preview for the Edmonton Oilers’ 2014-15 Season”
The Oilogosphere’s own Jonathan Willis gives his outlook for the Oilers:
Overall, it’s a roster with some significant problems but also one that should be a good bit better than the one that was deployed by the Oilers last season. Of course, it will have to be; Edmonton finished last in the West with 77 points and a minus-67 goal differential. Even substantial improvement may well see the team fall short of a postseason berth.
The Oilers will probably be better, even significantly better. But the playoffs aren’t likely.
What Say You?
What do I think? I say the Oilers will finish fifth in the Pacific, ahead of Arizona and Calgary, and tenth in the Western Conference.
Now it’s your turn. How do you think the Oilers will do in 2014-15?
[yop_poll id=”53″][adsanity_group num_ads=1 num_columns=1 group_ids=1432 /]
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