The Edmonton Oilers could achieve greater success in 2023 if they would “mind the gap”: 9 Things
Breadcrumb Trail Links Cult of Hockey Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft during third period NHL action against the St. Louis Blues at Rogers Place in Edmonton on December 15, 2022. Photo by David Bloom / Postmedia Article Content
The Edmonton Oilers start 2023 in a playoff position.
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Not where many, myself included, expected them to be at this point. It’s far from a disaster. But it means the club still have a lot of work to do and slimmer margins to accomplish it.
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Some of the factors that will impact this battle over the coming months in this edition of…
9 things
9. A common and fair complaint from this Edmonton Oilers roster is that the Bottom-6 lacks dimension. Ken Holland addressed some of that when he acquired Klim Kostin, who has finishing, physicality and a willingness to drop the mitts. It’s still early days, but GM seems to have clearly won this trade by walking away.
8. At least twice now, Elliotte Friedman has mentioned D-man Vladislav Gavrikov on Bob Stauffer’s radio show. An expiring UFA, the 6’3 220LB LHS comes with a cap of $2.8 million. On the ice, Gavrikov brings a two-way game for 22 minutes a night and is one of the top 20 defensemen in the NHL for TOI against elite competition. Worth watching…
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7. It was damn admirable to watch Leon Draisaitl struggle with injuries last spring. But in the marathon that is an NHL season, the playoffs are the home stretch. While you never want Draisaitl to be left out of training, it’s far better to have it happen now, before the star break, and then have it 100% (or, at least as close to it as possible, in season). ) in April.
6. Evan Bouchard is better than he looks. He has all the offensive tools. In my eyes, his lack of confidence in Defense erodes his game with the puck. No one should expect him to be Rod Langway. And it is often difficult to make a player what he is not. But Bouchard’s size, reach and speed suggest he should be better off the puck. And defensive tactics are coachable.
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5. Stuart Skinner’s impact on the Oilers this year is obvious to all. It’s fun to see where he ranks against every Edmonton-born goaltender in NHL history. He’s already 10th all-time on this list with 38 games, 1 shy of Eric Comrie’s 39 at No. 9. Is it likely that Skinner will also catch Bill Oleschuk (55) at No. 8 this season. You might assume that Grant Fuhr is number 1 on this list, but remember he hails from St. Albert. The top spot for an Edmonton-born goaltender belongs to Kelly Hrudey with 677 NHL regular season games.
4. Salaries often color a fan’s sense of a player’s actual performance. An example of that, so far this season, is Darnell Nurse. According to Puck IQ, Nurse plays the second most minutes against elite competition (272) of any NHL defenseman. Drew Doughty is #1 of 274. Your eyes don’t lie. There were mistakes. But competitive pros know they made them. And if you don’t filter Darnell Nurse’s performance by who he’s playing against, matches in and out, you’re missing out on an important perspective. The nurse was excellent in Seattle and again Saturday night.
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3. At 36, Derek Ryan contributes solid minutes to Oilers nights and nights. At this point in their career, you never know when a player like falls on the radar. Never drafted, never the most talented in the crowd, nor the quickest on foot. But what Ryan brings is desire and a high degree of hockey intelligence. At The Cult of Hockey, we map out each shift in detail as we compile our player ratings. And when you look at Ryan’s game through this detailed filter, he makes dozens of smart, professional little plays. And you know what? These add up at the end. That’s what keeps him in the league and relevant.
2. There was a lot of noise about MacKenzie Weegar’s knee-to-knee strike on Connor McDavid in the Calgary game. I agree there should have been an answer on the ice (in addition to a call). Some will want this response to happen in the moment. This is not always practical or possible. You are trying to win the game and have to choose your places. But preferable that a message be sent. However, this conversation dominated for days and even turned into one or more list moves to bring more earthiness to the list. But can we agree that the McDavid-Weegar streak was far from emblematic of the Oilers’ struggles in that game…or even in that season? Edmonton is an old-school hockey market in many ways and those views and emotions can sometimes distract us from bigger, more pressing issues with the team. And to me, a key issue is…
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1. There is often still too much “gap” in the Edmonton Oilers game. Duncan Keith had some shortcomings here in his final NHL season. However, there were a lot of positives you could really go to school on. And now that he’s retired, his absence makes him easier to spot. Adding to that argument, the puck was on and off Keith’s stick so quickly with almost every touch. Whereas this year, I see too much “processing” in the background. There’s an extra second here and a split second there when hanging on to the puck for too long is a problem. There is a chicken and egg debate here. Does the D-man deal longer because there’s too big of a gap between them and the attackers? Or do the D-men just pass up better prior options? It’s a bit of both, I would say. And it needs to be corrected.
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This is directly related to a major problem I spotted in that Calgary game. There have been at least a half-dozen times the Oilers D-men have had the puck on their sticks in their own end…but still couldn’t clear the area. In all but one of those cases, Calgary regained possession and managed at least one more shot on net. They were better but still had some issues compared to Seattle. Same with Winnipeg.
Edmonton’s strength on the blue line should be that most of its defensemen (Marcus Niemelainen aside) are decent movers at worst. Consider Cody Ceci. Some of them, like Tyson Barrie, are close to the elite in that department. Darnell Nurse is a good carrier but gets in trouble when watching the short pass. Evan Bouchard’s patience with the puck can be both a blessing and a curse.
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Simply put: it’s taking too long to get the puck into the hands of Edmonton’s best forwards. When this happens, you automatically spend too much time in your own zone. And a lot of that time goes by without that puck on your best player’s sticks. This is not a good recipe for success.
I think a guy like Vladislav Gavrikov could make the Oilers better. This would put more players in places where they are more likely to succeed and spread the minutes better. However, a roster change alone will not solve the “gap” mentioned above.
To me, it’s not so much about “who” as it is about “how”.
Find me on Twitter @KurtLeavins, on Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and now on Mastodon at [email protected]
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