Edmonton has once again taken its place at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Home sweet home.
Despite their place in the standings it hasn’t been all doom and gloom. The Oilers are not getting blown out of games. Bad periods don’t turn into bad games. There’s some improvement, but obviously it doesn’t feel like enough as we inch towards a decade out of the Playoffs. As we look at it today the Oilers are experiencing the problems we thought they would face and some problems we hoped they finally figured out.
When the Oilers went out and acquired Talbot the hope was finally they found a guy who could be the starter they’ve been looking for since Roloson left. Even league average would be fine. Even capable backup level goaltending would have been welcome. Sadly, Talbot has struggled mightily after his promising start to the season. As I write this I’d say that Nilsson is two good games away from being the starter.
The most promising and simultaneously disappointing problem with the Oilers is that it’s not the kids who are letting the Oilers down. No, it’s the older vets who are dropping the ball on this season.
Teddy Purcell: 5 points in 15 games. He’s slow as molasses and getting prime Power Play time with the 1st Unit (4th most on team). Against Chicago he had 3 Grade A scoring chances that he converted into sweet nothing. CF of 46.5%, 11th among Oiler Forwards.
Mark Letestu: 3 points in 15 games. Getting 2nd Unit PP time for his faceoff prowess. Looks lost in the OZ. CF of 41.8%, 13th among Oiler Forwards.
Andrej Sekera: 6 points in 15 games. Slowly looking more comfortable. Has looked best with Nurse as his D partner.
Mark Fayne: Has looked terrible through stretches. Has a lot of trouble making plays in any zone. Actually has wonderful underlying stats but even as someone who has a lot of time for them I cant reconcile what I’m seeing with what is getting recorded. I feel strongly that he’s being carried by his partner.
Nikita Nikitin: Lulz
Andrew Ference: Legs are dead.
The facts are that the young players who make up the core of the club are doing their jobs and that’s what’s keeping the Oilers in games. Beyond them it dries up real fast. Those 6 players I mentioned above are making a combined 23.175 Million dollars in salary.
LINEUP
Hendricks didn’t take the skate this morning so he looks to remain out of the lineup. McLellan appears to be splitting up the talent which has Eberle playing on the 3rd line to start. Letestu has taken over as the 2C.
Hall RNH Draisaitl Pouliot Letestu Yak Purcell Lander Eberle Gazdic Miller Pakarinen
Nurse Sekera Klefbom Fayne Reinhart Gryba
Nilsson
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Draw Some Attention. When I talk about Penalties I cross over into a place where I’m not sure if it’s my inner fan speaking. However, I have been thoroughly disgusted by the officiating thus far. It always feels like Oiler players are getting held or tripped with no calls coming their ways. The Penalty Differentials for Edmonton are still in the positive, though, which means either the Oilers should be drawing a lot more and are getting a raw deal or I’m just too biased to make that determination. Honestly, it’s 50/50 either way but in the last game the team was granted just a single PP to Chicago’s 4. Games are won and lost in Special Teams.
2) Testing Letestu. As per the morning skate, Letestu is taking the 2C spot between Pouliot and Yakupov. Up to this point Letestu has been extremely disappointing. He has exactly zero points at even strength and just 3 points in total. Now he’s being tasked with keeping a second wave of attack going. In his 4 years with Columbus he was only producing 1.44 points per 60 minutes 5v5. This feels a lot like a stab at finding some kind of chemistry in the absence of any kind of appropriate replacement for the 2C position.
3) Surging Ducks. They started off looking dead in the water, but the Ducks have now won 4 of their last 5. Whereas a few weeks ago this was looking like a favourable matchup, now there’s a lot more worry. Andersen is giving them .929 goaltending and the backup Khudobin is giving them serviceable .913 goaltending. If the Ducks have found their game then the Oilers are in for a tough one. If they let their foot off the gas thinking this is a team that will roll over, I think they will be surprised. Edmonton isn’t getting the wins, but they aren’t getting blown out of games anymore.
Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet One. Get Better, Connor! Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy