https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O317T6Zlno
The Edmonton Oilers 2015-16 season has just 18 games remaining in it. Once these games conclude, the team will pick up it’s operation and move downtown to their new arena as they prepare for what will be a key 2016-17 season. Major changes will likely come this summer, but we’ll talk about those when the time arrives, we have business to handle before then.
The Edmonton Oilers need to start setting the foundation for the future with a strong finish to what has been a tough season. Improvement was there from October until mid-December, when the Oilers actually jumped into a playoff spot. Since then, it’s been a tough ride for the northern Alberta side.
Injuries have played a role, but GM Peter Chiarelli discovered he was dealing with a flawed roster that needs a lot of work. That work started back in December and really got pushed forward this past weekend. The foundation is being laid.
Transaction Season:
The Oilers made four trades during the 72 hours leading up to the deadline and made a number of moves on the waiver wire and through recalls/assignments. The club dumped Justin Schultz to Pittsburgh and Teddy Purcell to Florida for 3rd round picks in an effort to clear out softer players. In an effort to get tougher, the Oilers acquired a solid buy-low candidate in Patrick Maroon from Anaheim and claimed F Adam Cracknell and D Adam Pardy off waivers on Monday afternoon.
The team also sent Anders Nilsson to St. Louis on Saturday and re-upped Laurent Brossoit and Brandon Davidson to two-year deals. The Nilsson deal and subsequent two-year deal for Brossoit signify that he is the backup next season. Jujhar Khaira and Jordan Oesterle were returned to the Condors in an effort to further their development.
What Can We Expect?:
The Oilers will play 18 games the rest of the way and are seven wins away form hitting the mark of 30. This club has to win 30 games this year, so the worst acceptable performance down the stretch needs to be 7-11. I think the goal should be to go over .500, so 10-8. Is that reasonable? It depends on injuries and depends on the schedule.
Luckily, the Oilers will get a fill of the bottom of the NHL. The team starts the final stretch tonight in Buffalo (26th place), a team they swept last year and already beat this season. They’ll play Philadelphia, Columbus, Winnipeg, Minnesota, St. Louis, Colorado, Anaheim, Calgary and Nashville once more, and Los Angeles, Arizona, San Jose and Vancouver twice. There are some tough teams in there, but it isn’t a crazy difficult schedule.
What To Watch For:
Benoit Pouliot is likely out for the season, so that opens up a spot next to Connor McDavid. It’s possible that new hire Patrick Maroon slides into that spot, but I’d expect the Oilers to reunite Nail Yakupov with the rookie phenom. Yakupov and McDavid showed some real chemistry early on this season when they were together, in fact they were two-thirds of the hottest line in hockey prior to McDavid’s injury.
I’ll be watching to see how Yakupov finishes off the season, because it will likely determine his future as an Oiler. I think they’ll end up trading him, but maybe a solid finish changes the mind of Peter Chiarelli. I’ll also be watching Connor McDavid to see if he can keep up his torrid scoring pace since his return in early February.
The style and effort will be interesting too. The last three games have been quite strong by the Oilers, but now that the deadline is gone, will that same effort be there? It’s been an issue before so it wouldn’t surprise me if we are discussing this in the final month and a half of the season. That said, guys like Cracknell and Pardy are playing for their NHL careers right now and will likely battle hard each night. Will the others follow them? I’d like to think that pride emerges here.
What about possible lines the rest of the way? I’d like to see the following for right now while bodies try to get back in the lineup: Hall-Draisaitl-Kassian ; Yakupov-McDavid-Eberle ; Maroon-Lander-Korpikoski ; Cracknell-Letestu-Hendricks; Sekera-Fayne ; Davidson-Clendening ; Nurse-Pardy.
The Oilers will likely get Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Oscar Klefbom back soon, which will improve the state of things. Even though Pouliot won’t see time the rest of the way (odds are), the Oilers can still ice a decently competitive lineup down the stretch. I’d like to see this group for a few games late:
Nail Yakupov – Connor McDavid – Jordan Eberle
Taylor Hall – Leon Draisaitl – Zack Kassian
Patrick Maroon – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Lauri Korpikoski
Adam Cracknell – Anton Lander – Matt Hendricks
Oscar Klefbom – Andrej Sekera
Brandon Davidson – Mark Fayne
Darnell Nurse – Adam Pardy
Parting Shots:
Kris Hansen recapped the deadline and gave Peter Chiarelli (here) a grade yesterday and I have to agree with his assessment. I really like what Peter Chiarelli accomplished this week in the form of moving out players who were not in the plan and who didn’t fit in. I liked how he added filler players to allow young players to develop and I’m a fan of his addition of Patrick Maroon.
The Oilers are far too soft of a hockey team, but the additions of Maroon and Zack Kassian earlier this year makes them tougher and better on the cycle and forecheck. The Oilers are becoming a bigger team, they are becoming more of a Peter Chiarelli team. The changes will continue in the off-season, no doubt about that.
That said, there are things to watch in the final 18 games of this season. The Oil will be getting two key pieces back and play an average schedule. There’s a chance to finish strong here and that should be the goal. I’ll be rooting for it and watching closely for it.
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