I don't think the Oilers deserve to be in that group. I know they had a slow start last year too but I feel like that team is probably more flawed than ours it just so happens it has the best player since Mario Lemieux on it.
I think this version of the Rangers is MUCH better than last year's. I think our defense has been bad because it's early in the season (also partially why up to today the offense has been so good). I actually don't think our defense being bad is a huge problem at all. Our defense is a symptom of how the Rangers have played. Run and gun. Frankly, we might have the team in the NHL that is most adapt at playing run and gun with the improvements to our roster (better 4th line, Chytil playing, and Lindgren demotion). You saw in the first period what playing run and gun looked like. We were the better team in the first period and got goalied. I think if the last two periods were played that way we either win or get goalied bad and lose. The Panthers frankly are not a team that can run and gun with us. That's not the problem. The problem is that when the game gets tighter checking our offense disappears. With the exception of the first 5 minutes of the 2nd period, in the last two periods our defense wasn't anywhere close to being the problem. But they got their lunch money taken and dominated because the Panthers went to their strength and we had no answers.