Oilers off season review?

[Cup or Bust]

Las season their wingers and depth players struggled to score most of the season and this season unfortunately it is more of the same, even worse because Hyman is not racking up goals. The Oilers as a whole are actually playing pretty good hockey but not one winger on the team can score a goal. Their offense which was supposed to be their strength is actually their biggest weakness right now. In a lot of games they are doubling up the other team in shots halfway through the game and cannot put a puck in the net and then the other team comes on and gets a goal and the Oilers just can't get a goal to either pull away from a team when they have the lead nor have they been good at getting a goal to come back in the game. When the Oilers are down 2 goals in a game this season, you may as well turn off the TV.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

The team was a good team with major flaws that caught lightning in a bottle last year, lost a lot of speed and youth this off season, and added slower and older guys who are on the tail end of their careers.
I think people made the mistake of just automatically looking at the fact that they made game 7 of the SCF and assume that they will build on that. But forget that their PK numbers were unsustainable and that the D as a whole were playing a lot better than they looked on paper and there was no real depth to sustain injuries or even the depth they lost on D in the off season. Goaltending was always an issue and remains one this year as well.
All that said, they should be expected to be a top 8 team with their two superstars and are clearly underperforming. I just never bought into the prohibitive cup favourite hype of the off season.

 

[syz]

Las season their wingers and depth players struggled to score most of the season and this season unfortunately it is more of the same, even worse because Hyman is not racking up goals. The Oilers as a whole are actually playing pretty good hockey but not one winger on the team can score a goal. Their offense which was supposed to be their strength is actually their biggest weakness right now. In a lot of games they are doubling up the other team in shots halfway through the game and cannot put a puck in the net and then the other team comes on and gets a goal and the Oilers just can't get a goal to either pull away from a team when they have the lead nor have they been good at getting a a goal to come back in the game. When the Oilers are down 2 goals in a game this season, you may as well turn off the TV.

Looking at their numbers through 19 games last season it was pretty much the same story. Hyman had more goals but Draisaitl and McDavid both had less. Everybody else pretty much balances out exactly. Foegele had 3 goals by this point last year, Skinner has 3 goals this year. McLeod had 0 last year, Podkolzin has 0 this year, etc. Where they've lost a chunk is Evander Kane, who had 9 by this point last year.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

 

[Artemi Panarin]

3-0 loss vs Habs (who were 30th in the NHL)

 

[FinlandPanther]

Everyone was acting like Skinner and Arvidsson were like amazing pickups. I didn’t expect them to be this garbage but man they have been horrible. And they both suck defensively.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

It doesn't matter what they ice McDavid goes 2ppg in the playoffs that's their whole strategy when building this team. Missing the playoffs would be a mess though.

But once they get in it's basically McJesus take the wheel

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

I'm an Oiler fan and I didn't like our offseason at all and many did. So I thought I'd look at it now that we've finally got back to playoff position and are seemingly playing better (at least temporarily). I do think we have a strong team that should make the playoffs but we need some trades and LTIR shenanigans.

Offseason moves
The good
Signed Janmark to 3 years - it's aging really well, he's improved
Noah Philp - great signing, low cost and low impact though

Cory Perry to 1 year - 4 points in 17 games - better than meh
Jeff Skinner to one year - 6 points in 17 games and in top 10 - better than meh

The bad

Signed Calvin Pickard to 2 years - meh
Connor Brown for another year (and a caphit from last season on our current season) - 4 pts in 17 games. meh
Viktor Arviddson to 2 years - 5 points in 16 games - meh
Vasily Podkolzin - 3 points in 17 games and a really nice fight. meh

Troy Stecher to two years - 13 games, 0 points, TOI is 14 - between meh and dogshit

The ugly

Ty Emberson - 1 point in 15 games, a minus 5 and TOI is 14. Dogshit
Josh Brown to 3 years - maybe the worst offseason contract? dogshit
Adam Henrique to 2 years - 2 points in 17 games. dogshit

Lost Broberg - Ouch
Lost Holloway - Ouch
Lost McLeod - Ouch

Undetermined
Matt Savoie for McLeod - TBD - Savoie could be a solution for Top 6 or a great trade piece for D help
Raphael Lavoie to a 1 year contract - he's in Vegas for free

My opinion is that Jackson and Bowman shit the bed badly. We still need D, a backup goalie to push Stu and probably some forwards.

What does everyone else think?

You fail to mention the loss of Ceci. He was bagged on in Edmonton but he was solid for them. Not terrific, not terrible, but solid. Plus he's a right hand shot and I'd take him as my #4D over their current trash like Emberson and Stetcher.

Everyone was acting like Skinner and Arvidsson were like amazing pickups. I didn’t expect them to be this garbage but man they have been horrible. And they both suck defensively.

I actually liked the Arvidsson pick up. I thought he would be immediately a 65pt guy playing on Drai wing and maybe even put up a career year. But he's been garbage this year.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

The Oilers don't even make it to the WCF with this current roster. They will get smoked by a team like Vegas.

 

[tfwnogf]

Too many fossils playing for this team. Worst starting goaltender by a mile (great moustache tho, and he plays le mario kart isn't that quirky). Soft and soulless. Coach doesn't know how to discipline, won't dare scratch "core" players like bouchard for his bonehead plays, keeps going back to Skinner despite him being so awful. Snake bitten offense. Off season acquisitions look pretty terrible. Uninspired, ugly hockey.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

They were touted as having the deepest offense in the league this off season with the addition of Skinner and Arvidsson and right now their second line has Draisaitl playing with Podzolkin who, checks notes, has 0 goals and 39 year old Corey Perry who has 4 points.
RNH and Hyman have predictably regressed from clear career seasons with 1 goal and 3 goals respectively. But to be fair no one could have predicted they would be this bad. Obviously they will bounce back somewhat but last year was a clear aberration for both players who are another year older. Add in the loss of youth, speed, depth and PK’ers and a step back was fairly predictable imo.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

When your coach is trying a fringe NHLer like Podkolzin on the wing of the league's highest paid player, you know your depth sucks ass.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

When your coach is trying a fringe NHLer like Podkolzin on the wing of the league's highest paid player, you know your depth sucks ass.

You’d think he’d have at least a couple of goals just by standing in front of the net and having the puck bounce off him into the net.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

They were touted as having the deepest offense in the league this off season with the addition of Skinner and Arvidsson and right now their second line has Draisaitl playing with Podzolkin who, checks notes, has 0 goals and 39 year old Corey Perry who has 4 points.
RNH and Hyman have predictably regressed from clear career seasons with 1 goal and 3 goals respectively. But to be fair no one could have predicted they would be this bad. Obviously they will bounce back somewhat but last year was a clear aberration for both players who are another year older. Add in the loss of youth, speed, depth and PK’ers and a step back was fairly predictable imo.

It was mainly oiler fans who were claiming that they have by far the best offense in the NHL and it's no contest.

The same guys who were saying that hyman is going to score 50 goals again this year. And that RNH is an annual 100 point player.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

It was mainly oiler fans who were claiming that they have by far the best offense in the NHL and it's no contest.

The same guys who were saying that hyman is going to score 50 goals again this year. And that RNH is an annual 100 point player.

I mean to be fair almost every single TSN analyst had them as the prohibitive cup favourites. The lack of critical analysis of their off season was off the charts.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

I mean to be fair almost every single TSN analyst had them as the prohibitive cup favourites. The lack of critical analysis of their off season was off the charts.

Also the entire Sportsnet panel also chose the Oilers as the clear favourite this year to win it all. Now they're going back on what they said, it's hilarious.