The good news is that the Oilers are now on the back end of what was arguably the toughest part of their schedule this season. Through the month of November, the Oilers mustered the ability to play sub-.500 hockey.
Looking ahead to the month of November, the Oilers are going to be in tough. They play 15 games in 30 days including a five-game, and a three-game road trip. The team is going to play divisional opponents Anaheim, LA and Arizona x2 during November as well. – Rig Ramblings, Oct. 29.
I had hopes and aspirations that November would go well, I really did. At the end of the day, the Oilers managed to finish November with 12 of a possible 30 points. While that won’t get you very far if you do it month over month, the team has still managed to keep their head above water.
- Oilers in October 2015: 4-8-0, goal differential -7
- Oilers in October 2016: 7-2-0, goal differential +10
- Oilers in November 2015: 4-7-2, goal differential -6
- Oilers in November 2016: 5-8-2 goal differential -3
- Oilers in December 2015: 7-6-1, goal differential -9
- Oilers in December 2016: 3-1-3, goal differential +2
- Oilers after 31, 2015: 14-15-2, goal differential -9
- Oilers after 31, 2016: 15-11-5, goal differential +9
As I write this post, the Oilers are sitting in the midst of a tight playoff race in the Pacific Division. This is in thanks to their wicked October. The team doesn’t sit with many more wins than they did at this point in 2015 and are really in no different position in the standings than they were a year ago today.
Today is also day one of three in a row that the Oilers don’t play games, which is a must needed break for a team that has had one of the tougher schedules early on.
The Oilers will close out 2016 with games against the Lightning, Blues, Coyotes, Sharks, Kings and Canucks. This season, we’ve seen the Oilers have the ability to beat teams we didn’t think they should beat, but also lose to teams we thought they should’ve beaten.
This league is weird sometimes.
Right now, the Oilers are perfectly average and that is fine by me. As we move into the New Year, it’s time for this team to stop making the silly mistakes that have cost them so far this season. With the season already being 40% over, it’s time for the Oilers to pull up their socks and make a strong push.
As of December 14th, the Oilers are ranked seventh in goals for per game (2.9), 13th in goals against (2.7), ninth in power play percent (21.6%) and 10th in penalty kill percentage (83.5%).
Being perfectly average is perfectly fine in my books given the horrendous seasons this team has seen in the past. Even last year, the wheels began to fall off for the Oilers during the start of the new year.
Analytically speaking, the Oilers are doing very well which is something we haven’t been able to say in the analytic era.
The Edmonton Oilers in graphs.
GF% should dip a little but everything is in a pretty good spot. It’s real. pic.twitter.com/fuKDVfF87N
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) December 14, 2016
As 2017 approaches, I am intrigued to see how this team fares. Models still predict the Oilers making it into the playoffs and I think those models will ring true. I still like the make up of this Oilers roster and I feel it’s one of the best we have seen in a while. It’s time for the Oilers to start playing like they can once again.
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