When we look back at the 2015-16 Edmonton Oilers season, we will have to acknowledge that this team was riddled with injuries. Unfortunately, these injuries robbed us of seeing Peter Chiarelli’s first Edmonton squad in full swing. Edmonton will go 82 games without seeing all of their top-six forwards in the lineup for a single night, and will not see all three centers and a healthy defense together for more than five games.
If healthy, would Edmonton have been a playoff team? No, absolutely not, but I think it is safe to say that they also would not have been a bottom five team this season. Assuming better health in 2016-17 is certainly risky, but it is also a way to be optimistic for the next season. Should Edmonton make the right adjustments this summer and stay relatively healthy, they should improve quite a bit next season.
No Top-Six:
Jordan Eberle got hurt in training camp and did not return until the game after Connor McDavid broke his collarbone. Right before McDavid came back, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins broke his hand, and right before he came back, Benoit Pouliot busted up his shoulder. 82 games and not a single one with a full top-six forward group.
The Oilers, who have been offensively challenged this season, can certainly point to this and put some blame on it. What would Connor McDavid had done if healthy all season? Jordan Eberle, had he not been hurt in the preseason, certainly would have hit 30 goals for the second time in his career. Would Leon Draisaitl have fallen off had RNH been there to keep covering him from tougher minutes? All valid questions.
Top Dog Gone:
Back on Glen Sather night, Oscar Klefbom broke a finger and was going to miss time. Edmonton had just won it’s fifth game in a row, was knocking on the door of a playoff spot and was playing their best hockey in years. Klefbom’s injury stung, but it was assumed that he would be back in early January and that the team would be okay.
Klefbom has not played a game since. He got an infection in his foot and isn’t close to returning. Considering that he is Edmonton’s best defender, this was a massive blow and certainly impacted how Edmonton did down the stretch. Ditto for Brandon Davidson, who emerged as a calming force and certainly made the blue-line better. His absence clearly hurt this hockey team.
Without those two defenders, Edmonton had a makeshift blue-line. On Tuesday night in Arizona, the Oilers dressed four defenders (Darnell Nurse, Jordan Oesterle, Griffin Reinhart and Adam Clendening), who are truly AHL level players at this time. Three of them should be developing while the other is quite surrounded as a pro by this point.
Final Thoughts:
I’ve noticed a lot of people point to injuries as the reason for Edmonton’s woes this season. That is both correct and incorrect. It’s incorrect in the sense that it is the reason why Edmonton sits 29th in the NHL. The team, even when healthy, simply is not good enough and is not a playoff unit. The Oilers lack balance and lack a strong NHL defense.
It’s correct, however, in that sense that it has in fact hurt this team. If healthy, I’d wager that the Oilers would still be out of the playoff picture, but would probably be about five to eight points better by this point. Certainly, they would not be a bottom five group in this league.
When we look at what went wrong this season, injuries should absolutely be part of the discussion, but it is only one reason. There are far more prevalent reasons for this seasons terrible finish.
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