What a crazy time to be alive. The Oilers are 2nd in the Pacific Division and 4th in the Western Conference after 45 games. They cant catch Anaheim for 1st even if they win tonight, but they get right back to striking distance. The Oilers have 14 more points in the standings than they did at this same point a year ago.
This is the young Oilers team that Katz envisioned when he set out to begin his rebuild. He just didn’t know it would take this long to get here. The team’s top 2 scorers are 20 and 21 years old. The top 3 centers are all 23 or younger. And, finally, the skilled Oilers are scoring goals. They remain the 2nd highest scoring team in the Western Conference (128 goals) and are respectable in terms of goals against.
This is not a complete team. This is not the best, I think, the Oilers can hope to be considering the youth mentioned above and the fact that there are some holes on the roster. The Edmonton Oilers are a team prepared to grow and with the right additions over the next couple seasons potentially challenge for a Stanley Cup. Oh, they’re missing at least 1 key piece before we start convincing ourselves that Cup run is coming soon, but they are a playoff caliber club today.
If they want to compete for a Cup then I think they need a legitimate 1D to emerge or join the club. They need a stud defender that they can play 27 minutes a night in the Playoffs. Right now I don’t see that guy on the Oilers. I see a team with a more balanced lineup. That’s fine and dandy for now, but once that expansion draft is done the Oilers need to get stronger on the back end. Sekera, Klefbom, and Larsson make a solid 2-3-4 in my humblest of opinions. Klefbom is young enough to not be counted out and Nurse is a total wild card, but I’m still looking outside for that last spot.
One issue is there isn’t anybody readily available on the free agent market and if they were then it would cost buckets of money. The trade market is probably the only way to find that player, but the players Edmonton can make available wont net you a top defender unless someone royally screws up. The Oilers used their best trade chip to get Larsson. What remains now are Eberle and Pouliot at their lowest or RNH who is still Edmonton’s 2C. It’s a tricky issue, but that’s also future Chiarelli’s problem.
The direction that this team can go in to strengthen the weakest spot of the current lineup is to find a right winger. In the rental market there’s Vrbata (we’ll talk about him later), Eaves, Parenteau, or (my personal favorite) Jagr. These are all RW’s on expiring contracts who could fit anywhere in Edmonton’s top 3 lines. I don’t want to talk about Jagr’s obvious comforts in Florida and the Eastern conference. I still want to dream of him playing in Canada in the playoffs. At pure rental prices the Oilers could package some of their B prospects or later picks for one of these guys. Sooner is better for me.
LINEUP
The Oilers recalled Jordan Oesterle, which suggests that Larsson is still hurting from that blocked shot. Larsson says he feels good enough to play and took the morning skate, but McLellan is calling it a game-time decision. Given that it’s a heavy week they may want to rest him 1 more game.
Maroon McDavid Draisiatl Pouliot RNH Eberle Lucic Caggiula Slepyshev Kharia Letestu Kassian
Klefbom Benning Sekera Russell Davidson Gryba
Talbot Brossoit
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Big Rig. All Patrick Maroon has done since becoming an Oiler last year is mesh with the best player on the team, establish himself as a top 6 player, and score 26-13-39 in 61 games. That’s a 52 point, 35 goal pace over an 82 game schedule. Maroon is leading the team in goal scoring and that is mainly done at even strength. His 16 5v5 goals is tied for 1st in the NHL with Crosby and Matthews. This is an incredibly special campaign that the St Louis native is having for the Oilers. His successes are making it possible for the Oilers to weather bad stretches for Lucic, Pouliot, and Eberle – wingers that most had ahead of Maroon on the depth chart until this year. The Ducks continue to pay a quarter of his salary this year and next. Thanks, Anaheim!
2) This Team Is Awful. Let’s not sugar coat this matchup. The Coyotes are an awful hockey team. They went for a rebuild, played a bunch of kids who weren’t ready, and are anchored by mostly past-their-prime vets and Oliver Ekman-Lasson isn’t having a great season. Arizona scores the 2nd least amount of goals per game and gives up the 2nd most goals per game. Only Colorado is worse. They stink. Edmonton can’t afford to let this team stick around in the game. Arizona is in a death march to the end of the season and they have nothing to play for. There are even reports that Doan would consider leaving this year, presumably to a contender that wants someone old enough to tell the kids what hockey was like before the end of the civil war. Edmonton should be able to beat this club into submission, scoring droughts should be snapped, the ridiculous hold that the Coyotes have had over the Oilers should be a thing of the past.
3) Vrbated Breath. The Coyotes scoring leader is 35 year old Radim Vrbata. He has 9 goals and 27 points in 42 games. After him it’s OEL with 23 points. After him it’s Rieder with 16 points. This team is propped up more precariously than that tent I made in cub scouts when I was 10. Radim Vrbata isn’t just leading a bunch of kids in scoring, he and Doan are leading the team in shots on net. Vrbata is the only one that’s crossed the 100 shot threshold. Edmonton has 7 players with 100 shots or more. Given that Vrbata is a RW, leads his team in scoring, and makes $1 million dollars this year, we should keep an eye on him in trade rumours. The Oilers could always use a player like this to bolster the RW position.
Puck drops tonight at 7PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Game On!
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