EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers were not supposed to be the team they were in the opening half of the 2021-22 season, lurching through the schedule like a drunk at the farmer’s market. In posting polar opposite 20-game segments, the Oilers showed an immaturity that was supposed to have been gone and dealt with by now.
Alas, the end result leaves this team every bit in the hunt in the Pacific. They sit eight points behind Vegas and Anaheim, who are tied atop the Pacific Division, but Edmonton has four and seven games in hand on those clubs, respectively.
After 41 games, Edmonton is a .573 hockey team. That’s OK, but falls below expectations for a team that was picked by everybody to finish, at worst, second in the NHL’s weakest division.
They started 9-1 and were 16-5 after a quarter of the season. Then the wheels fell off, and the Oilers lost 13 of 15 games, fashioning losing streaks of six and seven games that sewered the hottest opening quarter in the NHL.
“It’s the halfway mark,” observed head coach Dave Tippett, “and a tale of two halves.”
Today, Tippett’s team is coming off a four-game winning streak followed by a rather lazy loser point in Ottawa on Monday. Still, they ended the half with nine points out of 10. They’ve added Evander Kane and are close to being completely healthy, and on pace to challenge for the lead in the Pacific.
And it must be said: Having played virtually the entire first half with “B” goalies due to Mike Smith’s injuries, the Oilers deserve credit for hanging in there without a legit starter — even if the roller coaster has had its ups and downs.
“You know, we’re in a position where we’re playing really meaningful hockey here in February, and that’s all you can really ask for,” summed up eloquent assistant captain Darnell Nurse, who began an inspirational look back moments after Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Ottawa.
“We’ve been in situations here before where at this point we were on the outside — way on the outside — looking in, and it seemed like the season was over. Now, this is the third year in a row we’re playing some really meaningful hockey halfway through the season, and that just gets the guys going more and more. So let’s make the most of the opportunity we have ahead of us.”
Key stats
Team record: 22-16-3, 4th in points percentage in Pacific, 18th in NHL
Goals for per game: 3.27, 10th in NHL
Goals against per game: 3.29, 22nd in NHL
Power play: 27.8%, 3rd in NHL
Penalty kill: 76.9%, 23rd in NHL
Best surprise
Evan Bouchard, just 21, leads the Oilers’ blue-line in goals, assists and points (9-15-24) while playing 21:34 per night. Jesse Puljujarvi has 10 goals and 25 points at the halfway mark, and will have a career year at age 23. Ryan McLeod, 21, has become a regular, moving well from centre to left wing and back, while goalie Stuart Skinner, 23, appears ready to be part of an NHL tandem next season, stepping into the spot that will be vacated by Mikko Koskinen. All are Edmonton draft picks.
Good organizations draft and develop their own. That’s going on in full force in Edmonton, with Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg next in line.
Biggest disappointment
The Mike Smith gamble.
Everyone knew that GM Ken Holland was rolling the dice on a Smith-Koskinen tandem, no one more than Holland himself. That Smith has played in just six of the Oilers first 41 games brands that gamble an epic fail.
Assuming Edmonton is a playoff team, acquiring a goalie is an absolute must. Because we know for sure that Koskinen, though a decent backup, can not get you through a playoff series by himself. Smith could do it, but not from the trainer’s table.
Biggest question for the second half
See above.
The addition of Kane has helped balance the forward lines, and Holloway is expected to be an April 1 call-up. On the blue-line, finding a solid, stay-at-home defender for the left side is a doable deadline task.
But none of that matters unless Holland can stabilize his goal crease.
Give this team a dependable No. 1, add Holloway and the right D-man, and there could be something here. Fail to land that ‘tendy, and it’s like building a house in a sand pit.
Everyone in hockey knows it: Edmonton has become Philly West where goaltending is concerned. Any hopes of winning a playoff series lie entirely on an upgrade in net.
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