On paper are the Oilers better or worse than they were last season?

[Bank Shot]

They are better for sure compared to the regular season edition. They added 3 top six guys in Skinner, Arvidsson and Henrique.

Lost a decent RD in Ceci, but the Oilers have 3 legit lines now which you couldn't say for most of last season.

They'll upgrade RD before the playoffs and should be stronger than the playoff team last year as well.

 

[Soundwave]

They will be better. People underestimate how much offense the team leaves on the table by not having proper finishers around McDavid and Draisaitl.

Also McDavid was hurt all year last year with an abdominal tear that affected his puck handling and crippled his shot release.

4/6 D including the top pairing from the Finals team are returning including the two that matter (Ekholm and Bouchard), do we expect Florida to fall apart because Montour and OEL are gone?

If they're really that hard on for Cody Ceci, they can probably reacquire him at the deadline for peanuts (3rd team might have to retain but those deals are easy enough to get done), his numbers are likely to bomb in San Jose rendering his value nill. For now not having him allows them to acrue cap until the deadline (940k can effectively become like 4.5 mill of open room at the deadline) which is more valuable.

The defensive improvement is a product of Knoblaugh/Coffey's system, it's not dependent on whether you have a Ceci or not.

I also think there's a fair chance Skinner is better next year. Last year he got a ton of experience and is past the sophomore season which is often a tricky one for young players. He played in the highest pressure situations, time for him to take a step forward and show he learned from that.

 

[Bank Shot]

I watched our series. He gave up plenty of softies and his playoffs were just not good. He was horrid to start.

Everyone talking about Edmonton's D-core being bad, but it doesn't look any better elsewhere in the NHL.

Florida's second pair right now is Kulikov-Mikkola.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Worse IMO, but not by a whole lot

They still have time to add to their team, if needed

 

[FinlandPanther]

Everyone talking about Edmonton's D-core being bad, but it doesn't look any better elsewhere in the NHL.

Florida's second pair right now is Kulikov-Mikkola.

Those are Stanley cup champions.

 

[Bank Shot]

Those are Stanley cup champions.

And their D-core looks significantly weaker than last year. Wouldn't you agree?

 

[BraveCanadian]

D looks a bit thin but I don't think they were planning on winning based on the strength of their defense

 

[FinlandPanther]

And their D-core looks significantly weaker than last year. Wouldn't you agree?

Agreed with the loss of minute muncher Montour. I think Florida’s D core doesn’t matter as much as the system though.

 

[wetcoast]

They are better for sure compared to the regular season edition. They added 3 top six guys in Skinner, Arvidsson and Henrique.

Lost a decent RD in Ceci, but the Oilers have 3 legit lines now which you couldn't say for most of last season.

They'll upgrade RD before the playoffs and should be stronger than the playoff team last year as well.

Came here to say this and they are really strong down the middle with McDavid, Drai, Henrique and Savoie (who probably is ready for a bigger role as well).

The bottom line is that the Oilers have the best 5 man unit in the NHL if they decide to load up and a really good top 9 as well as a better than average top 4 defense group.

Skinner can be stecky at times but he also isn't as bad a some people like to portray around here.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

they're worse than the team that got to the SCF
but better than the team that started the year

much deeper up front
thin on the backend

 

[HockeyVirus]

Easily worse. First of all, everyone is a year older and they are the oldest team in the league. Their defense is honestly terrible in the bottom end, and Nurse and Bouchard are black holes in their own end. Ekholm is already going to be 35 same age as Tanev, do the Oilers expect him to be a top pairing dman for them all season?

Now the issue in goal. Skinner does not inspire confidence. He is in the mold of the Riemer's and Bernier's of the league IMO who looks good for stretches but will never put it fully together.

Offensively, we can expect the same as usual although I am doubtful Hyman is getting close to 50 goals again. I am just not confident they will outscore their problems for 82 games + 16 more. Last season was their year and I doubt they can go nearly flawless again from December onwards and have such luck in the postseason as to face injured teams and perform PDO miracles (looking at the end of the Dallas series).

 

[Paul4587]

Way better offensively. They’re a wash defensively, no Ceci is addition by subtraction but Desharnias is better than Stetcher/Brown. Broberg barely played last year so he can’t really be counted as a loss when comparing the two sides.

 

[lawrence]

better.

 

[Fourier]

they're worse than the team that got to the SCF
but better than the team that started the year

much deeper up front
thin on the backend

Are they really worse?? One big plus is that you don't have injuries to McDavid and Draisaitl. But other than that the forward group is at least on paper significantly better and will be even more so once Kane is healthy.

The only major difference on defense is the loss of Ceci with likely Emberson in his place, as I think a guy like Stecher or even Brown can give you comparable play to what they had in the SCF. At this point I think it is fair to say that at best Ceci was not really a big difference maker so the downgrade to Emberson won't be a major factor.

 

[ottawah]

D looks a bit thin but I don't think they were planning on winning based on the strength of their defense

The simple answer is yes. They were 9th in GA last year, and were clocking at 5th over the final 71 games with Knoblauch. Follow that up with the same GA in the playoffs as the supposedly great defensive team Florida. Even in the finals they only let in 2.75 GA in the 4 losses (minus EN).

Last year was not the run and gun Oilers that everyone thinks they are. Their D was a huge reason why they were winning. People like to crap on pretty much each player individually (aside from Ekholm), but it was working last year.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Are they really worse?? One big plus is that you don't have injuries to McDavid and Draisaitl. But other than that the forward group is at least on paper significantly better and will be even more so once Kane is healthy.

The only major difference on defense is the loss of Ceci with likely Emberson in his place, as I think a guy like Stecher or even Brown can give you comparable play to what they had in the SCF. At this point I think it is fair to say that at best Ceci was not really a big difference maker so the downgrade to Emberson won't be a major factor.

yes I agree the forward group is deeper and better than ever before

but there's a lot of "ifs" on the backend...Ceci is what he is, a #5 or #6 at best
but we don't know if Emberson can hold his own...dude has only played 30 games
Stetcher and J. Brown are #6 and #7 d-men...probably both #7's on a great defensive team

losing Broberg, Desharnais and Ceci and replacing them with Stetcher, J. Brown and Emberson is a clear downgrade based on the unknown

 

[Regal]

Are they really worse?? One big plus is that you don't have injuries to McDavid and Draisaitl. But other than that the forward group is at least on paper significantly better and will be even more so once Kane is healthy.

The only major difference on defense is the loss of Ceci with likely Emberson in his place, as I think a guy like Stecher or even Brown can give you comparable play to what they had in the SCF. At this point I think it is fair to say that at best Ceci was not really a big difference maker so the downgrade to Emberson won't be a major factor.

Arvidsson is a nice add if he’s healthy, but Skinner is a question mark. He had a horrible second half and has always been bad defensively. If he can’t get his scoring touch going again he’s a negative value player. They also lost Foegele, and Ryan McLeod. They have the potential but don’t know if they’re significantly better on paper than the cup finals group unless Skinner plays like 22-23. But Henrique is a pretty big addition from the start of the previous year though. And I imagine Brown will be much better.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Better.

Skinner and Arvidsson are much better than any forward they lost and having Henrique and Perry for a full year should help with chemistry.

The D is a bit worse but I'm not sure how reliant the Oilers were on Broberg and Ceci and they will likely add someone.

Skinner has the full experience of ups and downs in the playoffs and will be able to use that next year, could be a more complete run for him this time around.

 

[Fourier]

Arvidsson is a nice add if he’s healthy, but Skinner is a question mark. He had a horrible second half and has always been bad defensively. If he can’t get his scoring touch going again he’s a negative value player. They also lost Foegele, and Ryan McLeod. They have the potential but don’t know if they’re significantly better on paper than the cup finals group unless Skinner plays like 22-23. But Henrique is a pretty big addition from the start of the previous year though. And I imagine Brown will be much better.

The post you are quoting was in reference to the Oilers SCF roster. That roster had Draisaitl playing with broken ribs and a broken finger that noticeably impacted his ability to get his shot off. McDavid played pretty much the whole year with a core injury that also significantly impacted his shot. Simply having those two healthy already is a big plus, and at some point you can add Kane to that mix.

As far as the regular season is concerned, McLeod was probably going to be the #4C and used as a utility guy. Frankly Skinner does not have to be anywhere close to his peak to compensate for McLeod's loss in terms of overall impact. Anywhere close to what he did up to January last year would be a big plus. His job on the Oilers will simply be to finish.

2024-25 Brown may very well be the replacement for Foegele. If he plays anywhere near like he did in the playoffs, which he is definitely capable of doing if he is healthy, then you are getting the "paper" version of a player that is probably better than Foegele.

 

[Regal]

The post you are quoting was in reference to the Oilers SCF roster. That roster had Draisaitl playing with broken ribs and a broken finger that noticeably impacted his ability to get his shot off. McDavid played pretty much the whole year with a core injury that also significantly impacted his shot. Simply having those two healthy already is a big plus, and at some point you can add Kane to that mix.

As far as the regular season is concerned, McLeod was probably going to be the #4C and used as a utility guy. Frankly Skinner does not have to be anywhere close to his peak to compensate for McLeod's loss in terms of overall impact. Anywhere close to what he did up to January last year would be a big plus. His job on the Oilers will simply be to finish.

2024-25 Brown may very well be the replacement for Foegele. If he plays anywhere near like he did in the playoffs, which he is definitely capable of doing if he is healthy, then you are getting the "paper" version of a player that is probably better than Foegele.

I guess it depends on how you want to frame it. I don’t usually consider playing through injuries for the “paper roster” and I don’t think the other poster was either. So forgetting Draisaitl’s ribs or Kane who still played part of the finals, and it’s mostly Arvidsson and Skinner for Foegele and McLeod, with Skinner being a question mark. Skinner doesn’t have to be at his best to “replace“ McLeod, but he does to make the roster significantly better. If he’s only a 20-20 guy I’m not sure he’s improving the team from what they lose on the other end.

But yea, if McDavid and Draisaitl are fully healthy, Skinner is producing, Kane comes back strong and Brown gets back to his pre-injury form, then they could be one of the strongest top 9s we’ve seen in awhile.

 

[Fourier]

I guess it depends on how you want to frame it. I don’t usually consider playing through injuries for the “paper roster” and I don’t think the other poster was either. So forgetting Draisaitl’s ribs or Kane who still played part of the finals, and it’s mostly Arvidsson and Skinner for Foegele and McLeod, with Skinner being a question mark. Skinner doesn’t have to be at his best to “replace“ McLeod, but he does to make the roster significantly better. If he’s only a 20-20 guy I’m not sure he’s improving the team from what they lose on the other end.

But yea, if McDavid and Draisaitl are fully healthy, Skinner is producing, Kane comes back strong and Brown gets back to his pre-injury form, then they could be one of the strongest top 9s we’ve seen in awhile.

That's fair. Though again the post I originally responded to simply said they are worse than in the SCF. The on paper interpretation is one way to look at it but I was commenting more on the actual team that played in the SCF more so than the paper version.