The Edmonton Oilers finished their tour of the Central division with an 0-4 record. To put it politely, this is not a good start to the season. That said, outside of the Dallas debacle, the Oilers have actually been in games this season. Part of that is thanks to improved play, part of that is thanks to improved goaltending.
While the team is 0-4, I think it’s worth noting that they could easily be 2-2 to start the season. That should stand out, because anyone who reads me knows I’m not exactly an optimist when it comes to this hockey club. Still, I believe that this Oilers team could have come out of this death trap start with a .500 record.
Listen, the Oilers got smoked in Dallas and while they played a decent game in St. Louis last week, the Blues outplayed them enough where it really isn’t a debate they should have won. It’s the game in Nashville and the game against the Blues in Edmonton that could have been wins.
See, the Oilers are losing games because of two things in my mind. What are those? Simple, it’s the power-play and it’s the defensive mistakes that Edmonton’s weak blue-line unit has committed to this point in the season.
The Mistakes:
If Edmonton could play 60 structured minutes of hockey, they likely win in Nashville and against the Blues in the home opener. Why? Let’s go back to last Saturday night. The two goals Edmonton gave up were on major mistakes that cannot happen at the NHL level.
Andrej Sekera held on to the puck for far too long and got caught in a spot where he couldn’t bail out. The result? A two-on-one the other way and a goal against. Later in that same game, Andrew Ference had a terrible give away behind his own net that ended up behind Cam Talbot. Edmonton lost that game 2-0.
What about the home opener against the Blues? Well Edmonton got caught watching the first goal against. No one picked up Jori Lehtera going to the net and, low and behold, he scored. Later in the game, no one cleared the front of the net and Paul Stastny was able to wire home a shot with a big screen in front of Cam Talbot. Don’t get me started on everyone watching the Alex Steen goal that was the icing on the cake.
See what I’m saying here? Five of the six goals allowed in those games came off of correctable, sloppy, defensive mistakes. If Edmonton just cuts those mistakes in half, we are looking at about three goals allowed in those two games instead of six. That makes a massive, massive difference.
The Power Play:
Edmonton’s power-play unit has not scored a real goal all season. They are credited with one, but it was an own goal scored by St. Louis in the first game of the season. If we’re being honest here, the Oiler power-play has generated absolutely nothing to this point in the season. Only four games, but it’s been costly.
Against Nashville, Edmonton had six power-play opportunities and scored on exactly zero of them. Even if Edmonton goes 2-for-6 on the night, they still walk out of Nashville with at least a point. Two points if they cut down on the terrible defensive mistakes. See what I’m saying here?
How about in the home opener? Edmonton was gifted with five chances on the man advantage and scored, you guess it, zero goals. That includes two chances in the third period while down by a single goal, chances for Edmonton to tie things up and snag a point or two from this game.
What did they do with those chances? They didn’t get a shot on one of them, and I believe only had one shot on the other. Four minutes of 5-on-4 hockey and only a single shot. That, that is not good.
Are These Issues Fixable:
Yes, 100% they are. The Oilers can easily fix these defensive issues and the power-play. Well, maybe not easily, but you get what I’m saying. Listen, the Oilers are learning a new system, one that is far more complex and structured than anything Dallas Eakins tried or that Todd Nelson could implement in his short time in Edmonton.
I hate to say it, because I’m so frustrated with the losing, but this is going to take time to learn. The Oilers are trying to figure out how to play actual NHL hockey. That’s a process and I think we need to adjust accordingly to that. I have faith that this coaching staff will get this group to learn it.
The power-play is looking like a new system than the one Todd Nelson ran in Edmonton during the second half last year. It’s not this bad, no unit is, but it will take time to truly adjust and be a force. We all saw what this staff was able to put together in San Jose, the pure offensive skill is close to that in Edmonton. I believe it will click, but we need to be realistic and admit it has cost Edmonton games in the early going.
The defensive issues are going to be tougher to figure out. Structure and system can only cover up so much. Yes, to this point the Oilers have improved in that area, but there is still a lot of work to be done. You still have to execute, and the Oilers are learning how to do that. Again, it’s gonna take some time.
If the Oilers are going to improve this area, they’ll also need better players. I like Andrew Ference a lot, he’s an awesome guy, but he’s also not an NHL defender at this time. Eric Gryba needs to be better or traded out, same goes for Mark Fayne and yes, to a degree, both Justin Schultz and Andrej Sekera.
The power-play will be fixed, and I’d wager it happens sooner rather than later. As for the defensive lapses, as Edmonton learns their new system and what is expected of them, they’ll get better in this regard. Better players on the back-end are an absolute must, however.
A tough schedule, a cold power-play, and learning on the fly have Edmonton at 0-4. As tough as it is to believe, I still think this group will learn and have a very strong push at the end of the season, but they need to start winning games now.
Correcting these two things would go a long, long way towards turning this rig north.
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