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A slower Edmonton Oilers attack having trouble finding traction

October 20, 2024

Published Oct 20, 2024 • Last updated 37 minutes ago • 5 minute read

GM and VP of Hockey operations Stan Bowman at the Oilers training camp. Oilers camp begins with medical and fitness training for the 2024/25 NHL season on September 18, 2024. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia

Playing a team as good as the Dallas Stars might have been just what the doctor ordered for the Edmonton Oilers. A step-up in weight class often forces you to play your best game.

And for the better part of the afternoon in the Big Star State the Oilers were the better team. A step up, indeed.

But in the end, it was a 4-1 (EN) loss in Dallas and a bitter pill to swallow.

So, a 2-4 start to the year. Where to go from here?

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That and more in this edition of…

9 Things

9. The Bakersfield Condors are off to a 2-1 start, gaining five of a possible six points to begin the season. The “loss” was in O/T to San Diego. So, a solid start to the season on the farm.

8. Vasily Podkolzin (18 hits in six games) has brought some much-needed physicality to the Oilers Bottom-six. He helps fill a physical gap left by Evander Kane and Dylan Holloway. Would be good if he could score, though.

7. Adam Henrique made the Oilers better when he was acquired last Spring. But it is clear he was playing through injury then. Henrique is noticeably quicker thus far this season. What has not changed is the intelligence he plays the game with on most nights.

6. If Troy Stecher can buy the organization 55-60 games in that 2RD slot at $787,500 until the deadline arrives, that would be found money. Stecher has good tools. Skates well and is tenacious. If he had an extra couple of inches of height, his career may have had a different trajectory.

5. Stuart Skinner did not deliver the timely saves Jake Oettinger did at the other end on Saturday afternoon. That latter was fabulous. But I did have to chuckle at the Dallas fans and their chorus of “Skinner” after the 3-0. Talk about your short memories. You Do remember Skinner ended your season last year…right?

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4. Jeff Skinner teaches everyone (and hey, that includes me) a good lesson when it comes to reading too much into the pre-season. Skinner was all but invisible in exhibition play. But he has arguably been the Oilers best 5v5 performer thus far. Not what you would class as “speedy,” Skinner does have excellent edges though, and a real nose for the net.

3. Darnell Nurse looks way better than he did at any point last season. I have written in this space in the past that I believed Nurse was dealing with more significant physical challenges at the end of last year than most folks realized. After a limited training camp, his skating has looked like the Darnell of old. But what has really caught my eye is Nurse’s physicality. He is playing with what I will describe as a renewed edge which is most welcome. Darnell can be a lightning rod for criticism. But I think most of us can agree that this combination of speed and grit makes Nurse a difference maker.

2. I do not know about you, but I did not have “The Edmonton Oilers Power Play will open the season 1-15”. Edmonton’s offence is off to a sputtering start and honestly it is difficult to look past the Oilers’ best players and that #1 PP unit for the reasons why. Not one player in the top six is off to the start that you would expect. Connor McDavid is the only one at a point-per-game rate and that is “off” for him. Leon Draisaitl has three goals and five points. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has but two assists. Evan Bouchard has a single goal. Zach Hyman is at zero in six games. But look: I have a tough time thinking that all of these guys will not come around. Their track records scream as much. And while the Power Play perhaps needs a fresh blueprint to work off of, the components of that unit are blue-chip. As an example, while Hyman is struggling…who takes a 50-goal scorer off the top Power Play unit. Personally, I would preach patience.

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1.But as I assess this Oilers lineup across this two-and-four start, the very biggest thing that meets my eye is that the Oilers look slower. And all you have to do to figure out how this happened is to consider four departed players from the Stanley Cup Final roster. Warren Foegele was never able to cement himself as a Top 6 forward in Edmonton but he could skate. Like Foegele, Dylan Holloway had not yet proven himself a Top 6 performer but he could flat out fly. Ryan McLeod was perhaps the fastest Oiler not named McDavid. And Philip Broberg on Defence was a terrific skater who in a small NHL sample could transport the puck. In terms of speed and pace alone, none of the men replacing those players match or beat who they are replacing. It is not that the new guys are not solid additions. They just do not have the same wheels. And in today’s NHL…that matters.

Here is where I remind you that of the four departed players we are talking about, three of them (McLeod, Broberg and Holloway) were Ken Holland draft picks. Fast trains, quick boots that the Oilers drafted, and developed…but then allowed to leave for other clubs. As a result, consider this:

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Due to the McLeod trade and the St. Louis double offer sheet, the Oilers are not getting contributions to their NHL roster right now from any Edmonton draft pick from the past six years. Six!

On a day when your club lost in Dallas and Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway teamed up for just a spectacular goal for their new team in St. Louis, that fact burns.

Now on Threads @kleavins. Also, find me on Twitter @KurtLeavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and Mastodon at [email protected]. This article is not AI generated.