I’ve been watching Oilers hockey for a long time now, and I must say they haven't looked this good since the 2006 Cup run. What stands out to me is their solid 5-5 play, and they actually seem to be playing a system not called hot potato to Connor. The following reasons are why they are having success thus far.
Evan Bouchard
Bouchard has exploded out the gate with 6 goals and 6 assists for 12 points in 5 games. These are fantastic numbers, but what I love is that he’s a +12. Obviously this is a very small sample size, but so far when Bouchard is on the ice 5-5, the Oilers are driving the play and spending more time in the offensive zone. This is the impact your number one defenseman needs to have.
Bouchard openly talked about how he wants to limit the goals against when he’s on the ice, and so far he’s done that. He had this to say at the start of camp,
“Keeping the puck out of the net when I’m out there,” he said. “I think the offence will come, but most importantly focus on the defensive side of things first.”
Mission accomplished, but there are still 77 games to go!
Babcock has been leaning heavily on these two guys and I love it. They are big, physical, reliable and efficient. They make the simple plays out there in their own zone to get the puck out. This is extremely important, as the Oilers forward group is so skilled that they do not need something complicated or a hail mary. All they need is the puck in the neutral zone and they will do the rest. So far both are playing over 22 minutes a game and are being relied upon to stifle the opposing teams star players. Incidentally, this frees up Bouchard to do his thing.
This is what giving payers defined roles creates. Babcock knows his stuff
I had no clue who this guy was as I don't watch University hockey much, but so far he’s been rock solid.
Again, Babcock has given him a clear role which has been playing the pk and winning face offs. So far, he’s done quite well in that department, as he’s sitting at 50%, with a tremendous game vs the Sharks where he was 10-12, and going 5 for 6 against Celebrini with 14:15 of ice time. This really solidifies the bottom 6.
I’d talk about goaltending but I really don’t want to jinx it and I want a larger sample size from both goalkeepers. But I will say, after a rocky start, we are getting timely saves. It’s nice to see.