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A Crazy Season Comes To An End

June 7, 2022, 12:24 PM ET [50 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
That is all folks.

First of all let me say once again it's been a privilege to write here at HockeyBuzz and I want to thank all of those who read and come into the comment section to discuss. Oilers fans, Flames fans, and others, you guys reading is what grants me the ability to do this and for that I thank you all.

Taking a step back and looking at the whole season really makes it easier to appreciate how things came to an end. Here are just some of the events and notables from the season:
- Start the season with a five game winning streak, going 6-1 in October
- A six game losing streak in December
- A seven game losing streak from end of December into January
- Evander Kane is signed
- Dave Tippett fired after a 4-1 loss to the Blackhawks
- Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson brought in
- A five game winning streak immediately after Woodcroft is brought in followed by one more and a six game winning streak
- Oilers finish second in the Pacific
- Oilers dominate the Kings in Game 2 and 3 of the series, scoring 14 goals
- Kings push back and Edmonton fends off elimination twice to win in Game 7
- Oilers lose a crazy 9-6 game in Calgary in Game 1
- Edmonton falls down 2-0 in Game 2 but fights back and never looks back, winning the series 4-1 with a McDavid OT winner
- Losing 4 straight in the Western Conference Finals

There were more highs and lows packed into this one season than in any year I can remember and considering what this organization has gone through over the past two decades that is certainly saying something. Oilers fans are obviously going to be dissapointed that it is over but enjoy the silver lining for a moment here too. Your team made it to the Western Conference Finals and out of the 32 teams in the NHL, you were one of four remaining. Hold your heads high and appreciate that.

Why did the Edmonton Oilers lose to the Colorado Avalanche? Was Colorado the better team? Absolutely they were, but the Oilers were able to hang in there and put up a good fight. Three of the four games were decided by a single goal. Looking at this series, the losses can be summed up by two distinct areas; goaltending and the defense.

THE DEFENSE

Let's start with the defense. We all knew Darnell Nurse was playing hurt and on Monday night we found out exactly what his ailment was; a torn hip flexor. Basically every time that Nurse made a stride on the ice he was in incredible pain. It greatly limited his skating ability and reduced his overall mobility. That was fully exposed against a fast Avalanche team.

Mobility is going to be a word that you are all going to be sick of hearing by the end of this summer but that is what the Oilers need to focus on this off-season. In terms of the forward depth, Edmonton matched up strongly against Colorado. Where they got hammered was how much more mobile and active the Avalanche's entire defensive core is. Makar is elite and right now is my vote for Conn Smythe. Watching Makar reminded me of Erik Karlsson in the post season with Ottawa a few years back. Shift to shift he was an unstoppable force and the Oilers struggled to find ways to contain him or slow him down.

Makar was incredible but the entire blueline for Colorado, with maybe the exception of Josh Manson moves so quick and transitions the puck out of their own end better than any other group I've seen. Not to pick on Calgary, but their blueline is a more physical and grinding group, designed to wear their opponents down but they would've been completely helpless against this Colorado team. Calgary couldn't handle Edmonton's speed... they would've been far more inept against the Avalanche.

My point is not to call out Calgary (even though it's fun) but when Ken Holland is looking at upgrading this off-season, he needs to recognize that his blueline needs to become faster and more mobile and not bring in slower more physical players.

THE GOALTENDING

I will take a moment first to say that Mike Smith was fantastic for this team in the first and second rounds of the playoffs. He was a big part of those series wins and rightfully deserves credit for helping the team make it this far.

And he needs to never play another game for Edmonton again.

Pop quiz. Don't look back at any games. How many games in the playoffs could you argue that Mike Smith stole for the Edmonton Oilers? I would argue maybe there was one game, Game 2 against the Calgary Flames. The Oilers came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 5-3 but Calgary still out chanced Edmonton overall. Aside from that, how many games could you argue Mike Smith lost for the Oilers? Looking specifically at the Colorado series, he certainly was a negative factor in Games 1, 2, and 4.

Smith has now dealt with injuries that have kept him out of the lineup for long periods of time in the past two seasons. He will be 41 before season's end next year. What would be the expectations for workload for him if he was to play in the 2022/2023 season? I don't know how a competent GM could look the current situation in net for the Oilers (Smith/Skinner) and believe that tandem can make it further than the team went this season.

NO MORE EXCUSES

This must be the key message for the Oilers organization moving forward. Ken Holland so far has spoken about patience, essentially stating that the team is not yet in a situation where they can try and go all-in. This run has proven that this team deserves to have a GM that is prepared to go all-in on them. Edmonton made it to the Western Conference Finals with McDavid putting up 33 points in 16 games, Draisaitl putting up 32 points playing on one leg, 11 goals from Zach Hyman, 13 goals from Kane, 6 from RNH. Their top defenseman played injured the entire playoffs and Evan Bouchard put up 3 goals and 9 points in 16 games. Young players Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi each chipped in a couple of goals and brought solid two way play to the team. Ryan McLeod emerged as a legitimate third line centre with speed, great two way play and a bit of a scoring touch to boot with 3 goals, 2 of which came in his last four games. Brett Kulak and Cody Ceci were solid on the blue line.

Don't let anyone try and tell you that this team is only McDavid and Draisaitl. Those two are elite players who would take the spotlight regardless of which team they were on but finally Edmonton has a supporting cast that can elevate the whole team. The objective for this summer is to weed out the players who did not contribute and bring in those who can.

The first round pick for the Oilers this year that Ken Holland was so adamant he could not trade will be the 29th overall pick. Moving forward, if the goal is to at bare minimum be in the Western Conference Finals how valuable is that type of pick going to be?

I will likely be taking a break for at least a couple of days before delving into any off-season topics, cap situation, UFAs/RFAs, etc and I suggest that Oilers fans do the same. Take a deep breath... this was a year to remember and we had some great times and I hope you all made some excellent memories from it. Hopefully this is only the beginning for this group of players and next season we are discussing why the 22/23 Edmonton Oilers have a legitimate shot at winning the Cup.

As always my friends, thank you for reading.
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