Hard to find very much to complain about in the last week + for the Edmonton Oilers. Since last week’s ramblings post, the team has shown well taking out the St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets, Washington Capitals and the Vancouver Canucks.
Cam Talbot has been an absolute rock for the Oilers these last five games, each of which the team has won. He will be heavily relied on in the coming months for the Oilers. I had been nervous about the game against the Capitals earlier in the week, but the team showed that they have the ability to play in these games against the NHL’s elite. The season is still young, but the Oilers have shown some great promise.
One thing I was thinking about the other day is how at the end of last season, Mike Babcock said he was the worst coach in the NHL. His reasoning, he had the worst team in the league. Fair play, Mike. He is clearly far from the worst coach in the league, but he said he had used the same, or similar systems that he successfully used in Detroit for a number of years.
If you don’t have the right players playing in the right places, it is difficult for any team to be successful. The Oilers have done this now with Todd McLellan, and we are looking at the most balanced Oilers roster since the team made their trip to the Cup Finals in 2006.
Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson has seemed to pay off.
TALBOT AND GOAL DIFFERENTIAL
Wow, what is there to say? After his weak performance that saw him allow six against the Sabres, Talbot has strung together five wins, a 0.40 GAA, a .976 save per centage as well as two shutouts. While those numbers are likely not to be able to be sustained, he has been dominant for the Oilers this last week.
On the season, Talbot has a 2.06 GAA and a .934 save percent. If he is able to even keep up at a .920 pace the rest of the way, the Oilers are going to be in really good shape come the end of the season.
The craziest thing is that he was acquired for the 57th, 79th and 184th picks in the 2016 NHL draft. Criticize Chiarelli all you want, but this deal was an absolute masterpiece.
With 29 goals on the season, the Oilers currently sit tied for second in the league lead in goals for and they also sit tied for fourth in the league in goals allowed (17). They also are second in the league in goal differential with a +12 rating. Been a while since the Oilers could say that, and Talbot has been a big piece in that.
NOVEMBER
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.
This is going to be a true litmus test for a squad that will see only one two-day break that month.
PLAYOFFS?!?
Early point projections today on account of matinee. Oilers now projected higher than all but one Central team (!). pic.twitter.com/iGxxPHMBXx
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) October 29, 2016
Yeah, we’re talking about playoffs. Despite the tough road ahead, which is accounted for in Micah’s projections, the Oilers are set to make the playoffs this year. Micah’s model was effective last season in predicting season ending totals. Making the playoffs would be an absolute treat.
If you haven’t listen to the Bob McKenzie’s BobCast yet, I highly recommend it. During yesterday’s episode, he made mention of how he believes that what you see in the first few week can be a farce. Beyond that, he notes Nov. 9-10 as the point in the season where what you are seeing is most likely true whether it be a team bombing in the standings, or a team right near the top.
As we saw last year, this doesn’t always work well as the Montreal Canadiens were at the top of the league prior to Carey Price’s injury and we all know what happened from there.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
