By Dominic Muscarella
While there have been a number of disappointing teams through the quarter mark of the 2017-2018 NHL season, such as Calgary, Anaheim and to a lesser extent, Ottawa, none of them have been as big a letdown as the start of the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers were expected to be at the very top of a somewhat weak Pacific Division alongside the aforementioned Flames and Ducks, but all three teams find themselves outside playoff position as it stands. The Oilers, however, face the biggest climb as they find themselves second to last in the Western Conference standings ahead only of the Arizona Coyotes. This is a big step back for the Oil, who made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Finals before falling to the Anaheim Ducks in seven games. This comes after ten straight seasons of failing to qualify for the playoffs, so it has been easy to understand the frustration of Oilers fans at the very slow start. This team was expected to continue the breakthrough this season, but instead has slipped back into pack and failed to establish itself as a contender in the NHL.
Offense has been hard to come by for Edmonton. Last year’s Hart Trophy winner and first overall pick of the 2015 draft, Connor McDavid, while not having the high goal numbers that Edmonton had expected, has largely held up his end of the bargain, ranking seventh in the league in points on a team that doesn’t have too many high point scorers. McDavid, widely regarded as the best player in the NHL last year, is going to take some heat for his team’s poor performance thus far regardless, but he’s been the least of their concerns. Edmonton has gotten little to nothing from Adam Larsson and Ryan Strome, two players they acquired in separate deals with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders in two consecutive offseasons. What makes this lack of production even more crushing for the Oilers is that the players they gave up, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, have been fantastic for their new teams. Hall and Eberle have eight and ten goals, respectively, in top line action, while Larsson and Strome have just three and four goals, with very little in the way of assists. In addition, Mathew Barzal, whose draft pick was traded for Griffin Reinhart, has been solid for the Islanders; Reinhart, meanwhile, is no longer an Oiler.
Goaltending has been one of the better developments for Edmonton this season. While Cam Talbot hasn’t been superb by any stretch, he has done an adequate job in front of a sketchy defense, tallying a .903 save percentage thus far. However, Talbot was recently placed on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss two or more weeks, leading the Oilers to a dangerous position if a backup can’t step in and replicate the strong performance of Talbot.
Can Edmonton fight out of its slump? The signs might be there, as the team is shooting just 8.7 percent, well below league average, meaning that they might just be getting unlucky. However, the talent beyond guys like McDavid and Leon Draisaitl must step up. At just 27 games in, the Oilers still have time to determine whether they are a playoff team or whether GM Peter Chiarelli’s consistent missteps have doomed the Oilers to oblivion once again.
