New-Look Oilers – Part Six

Throughout the week, we’ve taken a look at each area of the Edmonton Oilers and decided whether or not each area was actually upgraded from last year. After looking at the front office, coaching staff, goaltending, offense and defense, we figured out that each area of the organization is actually improved, meaning we likely can expect a better season in 2014-15 from the Oilers.

Areas Strengthened:

The biggest ones are coaching and defense. The Oilers added a terrific teacher in Craig Ramsay to the staff, while also adding a solid young coach in Rocky Thompson, who is much smarter than one would assume from a former enforcer. Both bring solid skills to the staff, and put an emphasis on teaching and work with fundamentals. The Oil should be more prepared this year under this staff.

The defense saw multiple pieces added, including a strong top-four defender with a successful history against top-competition, a decent bet of a defender in the number four/five range, and an end of roster option that provides toughness and defensive play and the ability to play in both NHL and AHL. Three actual NHL players added means that Edmonton has seven actual NHL defenders to use and, yes, a legit NHL defense. That’s a major upgrade.

The wingers got a major overhaul as well, as skilled-size was added to the mix along with solid possession play. That fits the style of Dallas Eakins and adds some serious depth to the Oilers lineup. These additions bring Edmonton dangerously close to being able to roll with three scoring lines, they are just lacking a veteran second line center. Boy, Olli Jokinen would have been nice…..sigh

Goaltending has taken a complete 180 since this time last year too, adding two solid NHL bets in Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth, and a solid prospect in Laurent Brossoit.

Work In Progress:

Craig MacTavish had a lot to do this off-season, and it was almost impossible to expect him to fill every hole. Quietly, we hoped he was able to get it done, but realistically we expected a few things to remain on the shopping list. That’s held true, as Edmonton still has two areas that can be considered a work in progress.

The second line center spot is still vacant. Mark Arcobello and Anton Lander represent the internal options, while Andrei Loktionov represents the lone real UFA option left. There are trades that could happen, but as of now it looks like the two internal options will battle it out, with Leon Draisaitl there as well, although he likely takes line three.

The fourth line right wing job is open too. UFA Daniel Winnik would be a nice get to complete that line, as he could play LW and Matt Hendricks could shift over, but it looks like Edmonton is done shopping for free agent wingers. Internal options Tyler Pitlick and Steve Pinizzotto, both recently re-signed, are the likely candidates here. Iiro Pakarinen, signed from Finland in the spring, has an outside chance here too.

The Estimated Lineup:

The Oilers will have their top-line healthy all year long, will have more depth on the wings, an improved coaching staff, and most importantly a vastly improved blue-line thanks to the additions of Mark Fayne and Nikita Nikitin. The following depth chart is my best guess at what the Oil will run with as of July 24th.

Taylor Hall – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

David Perron – Mark Arcobello – Nail Yakupov

Benoit Pouliot – Leon Draisaitl – Teddy Purcell

Matt Hendricks – Boyd Gordon – Tyler Pitlick

Luke Gazdic, Anton Lander

Nikita Nikitin – Mark Fayne

Martin Marincin – Jeff Petry

Andrew Ference – Justin Schultz

Keith Aulie

Ben Scrivens, Viktor Fasth

The Prediction:

So I’ll get a little bold here and make a prediction for the 2014-15 Edmonton Oilers in terms of where they will finish in the western conference. The 14 teams in the west are all likely to be somewhat competitive this coming season, and most of them have made some improvements.

Among those teams is Edmonton, who has made their team better and likely jumped some of the bottom feeders in the NHL. By my count, the Oilers will finish 10th in the Western Conference this season, finishing ahead of Calgary, Winnipeg, Nashville, and Arizona. It’ll be an improvement, but it won’t be enough for the playoffs.

Fix the two holes we talked about and have all the young guys take a step forward, and MAYBE we can talk playoffs. That being said, 10th is an improvement and no doubt puts Edmonton in the playoff race until the final few weeks of the season, and that’s all we can really ask.

I’d love to be wrong, but while this team has made some big improvements, there is still work to be done. So far, so good from MacT but there is no time for rest.