We can sit here and dissect why the Oilers are 3-7-0 with the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins coming into town all we want, but it would do us no good. See, here’s the deal folks, competitive and meaningful hockey in the months of January, February and March is already on the line. If Edmonton goes 0-4 here, and it’s possible, we can start looking towards the draft.
Why are the Oilers, who finally have solid goaltending and a franchise face in Connor McDavid, still losing? The answer is so simple friends, it’s the defense. The Oilers blue-line is still the worst in the NHL and it’s tough to argue who is close right now. At my count, only three of the eight on the roster are good enough to survive in this league. That’s bad.
So, let’s put it this way. The Edmonton Oilers current roster just isn’t good enough. The Oilers are not constructed, as currently built, to win at the National Hockey League level. This is no longer an opinion, this is a fact.
The Good:
Andrej Sekera didn’t have a great camp or first few games, but he’s really adjusting in Edmonton and getting better by the minute. Sekera is a legit NHL defender and I have no issue with him in the top-four moving forward. In fact, I’d go as far as to say he’s a bonafide option as a top-four D anywhere in the NHL.
Oscar Klefbom is still learning on the job, but he’s a good player and will no doubt be a top-four defender in the NHL as well. He’s good enough to help down the road and right now. That’s two top-four defenders on the Edmonton Oilers roster.
Griffin Reinhart has impressed me too, but he’s only seen limited action. Right now, I’d comfortably slot him as a third-pairing option and expect him to develop into a number three or four guy moving forward. Reinhart has arrived as an NHL’er in my eyes.
The Bad:
Justin Schultz is very inconsistent, and that might be his ticket out of Edmonton. He isn’t a very good passer, makes a ton of mistakes defensively, and isn’t very good when it comes to battles. He’s a bottom pairing defender right now and doesn’t produce nearly enough offense to make it worth it. I’d move on.
Eric Gryba has had some good nights, but more often than not he has been bad for the Oilers this season. He’s too slow and he can’t move the puck one bit. Seriously, he’s incapable of moving the puck out of the defensive zone. It baffles me that Todd McLellan plays him so much, he’s been on the ice for a lot of goals against this year.
The Ugly:
Mark Fayne was supposed to be a stabilizing force after signing in July of 2014. Instead? He’s been the biggest disappointment for Edmonton in a long time. Fayne is not a top-four defender in the NHL, right now he is simply an overpaid number 5/6 guy. That’s extremely frustrating and it’s hurt Edmonton. Mark Fayne is just not good enough to help this team.
Andrew Ference has been bad, but at his age we knew this was coming. Brandon Davidson looks nothing like the player we saw for 12 games last year. Right now, he looks completely lost out on the ice, he hasn’t been good for the Oilers no matter which way you want to evaluate it.
The Keys Issues:
The Oilers defense breaks the back of the team in two key ways. First off, they can’t move the puck. I count only two defenders, Klefbom and Sekera, who can be trusted to consistently move the puck up ice to the forwards. In today’s NHL, if you can’t move the puck, you will be doomed to failure. Hence the Oil’s early struggles.
Secondly, this unit is incredibly mistake prone. Gryba and Davidson have had countless turnovers this season while Mark Fayne has been guilty of blowing his coverage more times than the count on sesame street has ever counted. Those mistakes lead to chances against, which in turn leads to goals against. These are ugly mistakes that simply can’t happen.
How Do You Fix It?:
Darnell Nurse will help in some regard. He looked good last night in his debut, but he still needs development time and should not be counted on to play a key role just yet. He’s going to be a solution however, and honestly the Oilers should keep him full time starting now. He’s better than Gryba, Fayne, Ference and Davidson.
You fix this with a trade, plain and simple. The Oilers need to target NHL level defenders who are slipping free for whatever reason and get aggressive. Peter Chiarelli did this in Boston and had a lot of success for a sustained period of time. Edmonton needs to identify solid players and go get them.
This is the next major test for Peter Chiarelli. He passed the goaltending test by getting Cam Talbot and Anders Nilsson, now he needs to fix this blueline. Failure to do so will waste away the first season of McDavid’s entry level deal and will waste away another winter in Edmonton. The pressure is on Peter.
Failure to act soon will cost Edmonton. If the Oilers play much longer with this defensive unit, meaningful hockey may only last another three weeks in Oil Country. Will it be same old same old, losing in Edmonton? We wait.
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