What Now For The Oilers?

6-9-2. It doesn’t have a nice ring to it, it shouldn’t have a nice ring to it. The Edmonton Oilers once again find themselves in the bottom five of the NHL, and once again find themselves in the basement of the Western Conference. They are ahead of only one team, the Arizona Coyotes, who have played one less game and are in town on Sunday night.

Yes, the Oilers have more wins at this point this year than they did last year, but it’s only two more wins, and points wise the pace is basically the same as a season ago. For all this talk about improvement and taking steps forward, the results are exactly the same, losing and spending nights in the basement. Eight years after we started, we are still just going around and around in the toilet bowl of the NHL.

So what comes next? What is going on with this current edition of the Edmonton Oilers? Is there any good with this team right now?

The Good:

The Edmonton Oilers have done somethings right this season. Their advanced stats have improved by miles. The Oilers were a team that toiled for years in the low 40% in terms of the Corsi For %, this year they are closing in on 50%, which is where the good teams usually find themselves. No, this won’t make Edmonton a playoff team, but it’s nice to see almost 20 games into the season.

The Oilers shot attempts for and shot attempts against mark is much improved as well, in fact they are close to even. That was an absurd notion as recently as last season. No, Edmonton doesn’t have a great defense, but they have tightened up considerably this season and have improved in a big way here. That, like the improved advanced stat numbers, is important.

I also think we have seen Jeff Petry emerge as a real solid all-around defender. He’s a good puck mover and has been much better defensively this season. To me, he’s a must sign player for this Oiler team moving forward. I also love what we’ve seen from new additions Mark Fayne and Benoit Pouliot.

The Bad:

The goaltending is absolutely pathetic right now in Edmonton. Both Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth are sub .900 in terms of save percentage, and both of these guys have given up an absurd amount of soft goals. Against Ottawa, Scrivens gave up a brutal soft goal in overtime that cost Edmonton the extra point and a massive win. Fasth had the same issue back on Tuesday against Nashville.

Neither of these guys have taken the ball and ran with it, and both of these guys are proving why they aren’t number one netminders in the NHL. Sure, both of these guys were solid bets, and both have some real potential, but neither of these guys are proven number one goalies in the NHL. Scrivens and Fasth are running out of time in Edmonton right now.

Nikita Nikitin and Justin Schultz have been awful. Nikitin looks totally lost out there right now, he fails to close the gap, and he fails to play physical on the blue-line. He’s not very good at moving the puck, and he’s not quick enough to be a soft defender. Meanwhile, Schultz has been brutal for this team. He jumps into the play at the wrong times, and offensively he has provided NOTHING while being absolute chaos defensively.

The Oilers still give up far too many grade A scoring chances too, which is a big problem. Yes, the goaltending has been bad, but Edmonton is still giving up too many chances that good teams will convert every single time. It’s tough to win when you are shooting yourself in the foot.

So Whats Next?:

Something has to give for the Edmonton Oilers. The team is once again spinning it’s wheels in the basement, and is in danger of losing yet another season, a ninth season in a row. It’s sad really. What will happen? I’d wager nothing, that the Oilers, in typical Oilers fashion, will preach patience and give some speech about staying the course.

Personally? I think a move for a goalie should be next. This team has shown some signs, but the goaltending is killing it. Is it all Scrivens and Fasth? No, but those two aren’t helping and are certainly part of the problem.

Something has to give, especially if another loss is in the cards on Sunday night. We sit, we wait.