Oilers and Optimism
Do a Google search of the words “Oilers” and “optimism” and you’ll find many articles from previous years about how there were finally reasons to be optimistic about the Oilers. But, as it’s often said on the Oilogosphere, “We hoped for the best, but it turned out like Oilers.” Well, I only have one thing to say…
NEXT SEASON WILL BE DIFFERENT!
Why?
BECAUSE IT WILL!
But why?
THEY CAN’T POSSIBLY BE AS BAD AS THIS YEAR!
Are you sure?
STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS!
Reasons for Optimism
Yes, we Oiler fans are a bit gun shy about proclaiming, “Next year things will be better,” but I do think there are a few reasons for optimism.
1. Peter Chiarelli is highly motivated to fix the defense.
Chiarelli is not going to stand pat or merely tinker with the defense. He’s going to make a bold move or two. Chiarelli is too proud to sit back and allow himself and the Oilers to be the league’s laughingstock. Looking at the defense, the Oilers have lots of depth on the left side (Sekera, Klefbom, Davidson, Nurse, Reinhart, Oesterle). But on the right side they have Fayne and *crickets*. Hopefully Chiarelli will acquire a couple of right-shot defensemen. Two popular suggestions are trade target Travis Hamonic and UFA Jason Demers.
2. The players will not need to adjust to another new coach.
Barring some unforeseen incident, Todd McLellan will be back behind the Oilers’ bench in 2016-17. And bringing back McLellan should be different than Dallas Eakins returning for another soul crushing season. Get McLellan a couple of top-4 defensemen, and the wins should increase.
3. The Oilers can’t suffer as many devastating injuries next season . . . right?
According to the blog Man-Games Lost, the Oilers have lost the third most man-games due to injury. To make matters worse, the Oilers have been the most negatively impacted team by injuries since several of their top players have missed large chunks of games (Eberle, McDavid, Pouliot, Klefbom, Nugent-Hopkins, Davidson). Man-Games Lost also says that the greatest injury impact for a lost defenseman has been Klefbom, and for forwards it’s McDavid. Yes, dice have no memory. (Have you ever played The Settlers of Catan and waited all game for a 5 to be rolled?) But still, most people would wager that the injuries won’t be as bad next year.
4. Connor McDavid should be even better next year.
Have you heard about Connor McDavid? He’s a pretty good hockey player. Here’s a tweet from our own WheatNOil to ponder:
And only Crosby did it in his draft+1 season.
Ovechkin – Draft+2
Malkin – Draft+3
Forsberg – Draft+4 https://t.co/CJP4V2UCHw— WheatNOil (@WheatNOil) March 27, 2016
Amen.
5. It looks like the Oilers finally have found a number one goalie.
After a slow start (and much anxiousness from his biggest fan), Cam “Gift from Glen Sather” Talbot has had a successful first season with the Oilers. His .918 save percentage is nineteenth among goalies who’ve played at least 25 games. The Oilers’ goal differential has improved significantly compared to last season, and most of that improvement is due to having a goalie who can actually stop a puck.
6. The Oilers might start to get some favourable calls from the refs next season.
Actually, I won’t get my hopes up about this one.
Finished reviewing last night's LAK/EDM game and I needed two sheets to track all the missed calls. ~75% missed calls were in LAK favour.
— Rex Codex Libris (@CodexRex) March 28, 2016
Next Stop: Gloryland?
The Oilers have a competent GM, a competent coach, a competent goalie, and a collection talented forwards. Now if they could just add an improved defense to the equation. Peter Chiarelli, Oilers nation turns its wistful eyes to you. we beg of you to acquire the defensemen we all know the Oilers need.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!
So if the Oilers add two right-shot defensemen, will the Oilers finally make the playoffs next season?
PLAYOFFS?! PLAYOFFS?!
Maybe.
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