Merry Christmas Oilersnation! As you wake up today and celebrate the holidays, the Edmonton Oilers hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Despite that fact, there’s still a negative feeling around the team and while I’ve been known to be fairly pessimistic at times, I don’t see the reason for Oilers fans to feel any way but positive about the first three months of the season.
After 36 games, the Oilers are in a wild card spot and if they were to win the games they have on the teams ahead of them, they could sit third in the Pacific Division. If someone would have said that at the beginning of the year, almost every Oilers fan would have been thrilled
No one realistically expected this group as it’s currently assembled to compete for a Presidents Trophy or for a division title. The general consensus was that this would be a team that has to fight right up until the last few weeks of the season, or later if they wanted to secure a playoff spot.
Well, that’s the position this group is in. Do the three consecutive losses heading into the break sting? Sure. But, look at the big picture, this group essentially holds their playoff fate in their own hands heading into the unofficial second half of the season.
The fact that they’ve had their fair share of struggles and gone through a little adversity could be viewed as a bit of a positive. Even though this team got some sub-par goaltending at the beginning of the year, can’t seem to get any consistent secondary scoring, and hasn’t had a fully healthy blueline yet, they’re in a playoff spot. There is a reason to believe that the second half of the season could be even more successful than the first half.
From a secondary scoring perspective, we’re starting to see some positive strides forward from players like Jujhar Khaira and Jesse Puljujarvi. I’ve even liked what I’ve seen from Zack Kassian as of late and his play even got him a look on the top line during the game against Tampa Bay.
Then there are the likes of Milan Lucic and Tobias Rieder who combine for a cap hit of $8.0 million and have exactly one goal between the two of them.
Maybe I’m feeling optimistic because it’s the holiday season, but Milan Lucic is slowly starting to get more and more traction in his offensive game. I’m noticing him turning over the puck less and less and going to high-danger spots in the offensive zone on a more regular basis. I know we’ve been waiting for a while, but I think it’s completely reasonable to expect Lucic to punch in more than one goal from now until the end of the regular season.
Same with Rieder, who has yet to score a goal as an Oiler. He’s just coming off an injury, so I want to cut him some slack and before he was hurt I thought he was skating well and generating a few chances off the rush.
Those two guys getting going and continued improvement from the likes of Puljujarvi and Khaira is the solution to the Oilers secondary scoring woes. If that gets going, it will go a long way in determining the Oilers playoff fate.
THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM
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The Oilers will play three games before the calendar flips to 2019 and once January comes, things get really crazy.
They’ll play 11 times in the first 22 days of the month. It starts with a four-game road swing through Arizona and California. While the California road trip isn’t as daunting this season as it has been in seasons past, those are still tough points to go get.
After that, they play six games at home with a quick road trip to Vancouver sandwiched in the middle. Of those final seven games, only two of their opponents currently hold playoff spots (Calgary & Buffalo).
Their blueline is depleted right now, so any break in the schedule is much needed. They don’t really get that in January with the volume of games they play, but the quality of their opponents is not very strong. While the Oilers will play a pair of back-to-backs (January 4/5 vs ANA/LA & Jan 19/20 vs CGY/CAR) they also get two games where they will be playing an opponent on the second half of their own back-to-back (Jan 8 vs SJS & Jan 19 vs CGY).
All in all, it’s a hectic part of the schedule, but it could have been much worse and when the string of games ends of Jan 22, they’ll get ten days off.
When the Oilers return to action on Feb 2, in Philadelphia, there’s a really good chance they have all three of Kris Russell, Oscar Klefbom, and Andrej Sekera back in the lineup.
If they can keep their heads above water in the first half of January, they’ll get a solid boost to kick off February.
The Oilers are in a good spot right now. I mean, it’s hard to complain about holding a playoff spot at Christmas time. Will this next month be a tough test for them? It certainly will, but isn’t that what we wanted as fans? For them to have a fighting chance of the playoffs when the calendar flips?
It certainly what I was hoping for. Enjoy the holidays and then get ready to enjoy the ride Oilers fans. We’re going right into the storm that is the Western Conference playoff race.
Wow you sure got into the Christmas sauce early, Lucic game is getting better. Please pass the kool aid over so l can at least pretend to like him as well. With their dman out and their winger firing blanks the Oilers are going to be hard pressed to keep that spot. Hopefully they heal quick, the gm can replace some of the dead weight and the oilers can move up in the standings.
Less ice time = less turnovers
Not rewriting the math manual on that one
Santa brought us a Ten Inchcock and solid goalie too.
12 drummers drumming on Jasper
11 or more 3 pt nights for McDavid
10 referees keep cheating
9 point cussuon
8 grade A scoring chances
7 more shutouts
6 wingers winging
Another five Stanley cups
4 percent penalty killers
Three number one centers
two one hundred point producer’s
a Stanley cup in a pear tree
Lucic’s game started off descent and has steadily declined over the last month. He had a good boost when Hitch was hired and put him on the “identity line” (AKA “can’t score to save their life line”). The last 5 games he has gotten little to no scoring chances, wrist shots from 5 feet within the blueline is not getting “high danger chances”. He looks more and more like he should be in the press box every game. You lose credibility when you try to put a spin on something that cannot be spun. G’day.
The Oilers were in this exact same spot last year basically. We battled to within a few points of a playoff spot and what happened after Christmas? We proceeded to get pumped the first 8 games going like 1-6-1 and all playoff hopes were dashed and the season was over. The difference this year is that we are down 3 of our top D and are on a three game losing streak rather than a winning streak which we took into last xmas break. Trying to be positive but I don’t think this squad has a chance in hell of making the playoffs the way it is right now. They spoke for three games straight about riding a winning streak and taking momentum into the break and couldnt even muster one win against two non playoff teams.
so because it happened last season, it will definitely happen this season….
gotcha
No it happened last season with a little better roster and this year the roster is even thinner. So its not crazy to think this team as it sits will miss the playoffs. Hey if they make it more power to them but the way things are going lets not hope for any hockey past april.
The games right after Xmas last year destroyed the season. Those games still linger in my mind. They better not repeat last year.
They will repeat and pile on the excuses about lack of backend and injuries.
Looking ahead they likely go 5-5 in the next ten – and are out of the playoffs.
in this division i think going 5-5 would keep us in the playoffs
Only if one of the teams ahead of us falls off the race then yeah. I think it will be the ducks.
No. Ducks seem to have staying power and goaltending.
The Ducks have Dynamic goaltending and probably the best 4 young defencemen of any team.
You mean in this division which has 5 of the 8 playoff teams?
The best part and worst part about being a fan is caring so much. I want to be positive and I’ll try my best. All I ask is exciting hockey (at least for this year) and that we have a chance to make the playoffs. But man it’s really easy to get negative fast.
Agreed. But team piles on the losses and goals against. Reality sucks.
This site has like four or ten people that just wait to make every negative, sound devastating.
Its hilarious that 500 million views per year are touted, and four or ten people can make the entire site sound like the sky is falling, because they follow up every single post made with brown stains on everything.
Oil as a team do enough to make things negative.
This roster is not good enough to make the playoffs. Worst GM in league will be out of a job by end of season.
Like the dead sheriff in “a million ways to die in the west,” here comes bung to prove my point.
Yeah, he’s got a bad case of “fart needles”.
Bung – They are in a playoff position now. They have to hold off DAL, MIN and STL but COL and their entire division is catchable. Yet you repeat the same senseless dribble about the roster not being good enough but you’re wrong.
This team since the end of the 15-16 season has more wins than Calgary! This team has beaten WIN, NAS, CAL, and WAS and BOS this year and can compete with any team in the league. This roster has Connor McFRICKENDavid and that is enough to put them in playoff contention. In fact the only way they don’t make the playoffs is bad luck. So you and Seriously Negative Gord can stop crapping all over anything that is positive about the Oilers because it is tiresome.
And to everyone on ON – Merry Christmas
You can throw whatever stats you want but unless the roster gets and overhaul they wil not make the playoffs. Conner can’t do it by himself, and the goalies have them where they are and that is not a sustainable number…..
They won’t keep it.
Dead weight, cap hell and Chiarelli eating crow over Christmas.
A practice roster no one has heard of enjoying popcorn time in the press box.
Top 4 D on the IR into New Years.
And a partridge in a pear tree…
No worries.
*puts on warpaint*
Bring it on
Yikes. I’m lost. Normally I would be pouring over the reports from the junior and Euro scouts to see who our NEXT prospect would be. It looks like it will be a crap shoot with our first rounder somewhere in the twenties:)
Cheer up people , we got the best player in the world , depth in the farm with players coming from Jones, bear, marody, yamamoto. Add on the kids in the AHL like McLeod and Bouchard, we haven’t had this much youth depth ever and once they are ready Russel and sekera contracts will be done . So not sure why people think we are in cap hell considering our core is locked up for many years and the older vets have expiring contracts soon, it’s timed perfectly to have the youth start to take the spots in the next 1-2 years. Merry Christmas and happy New years, we are making playoffs once our top dmen return
Your kidding? This team is so far away from being a playoff contender. Did you watch the Tampa game? Did you watch Vancouver beat them to the puck all night?
This should get no down votes.
https://www.nhl.com/oilers/news/bob-stauffers-top-10-oilers-prospects/c-303248992
This team doesn’t have a roster to compete for a playoff spot. Chia messed this up. Generational talent wasted.
With 3 of our top 4 hurt we are still in the race . Do you know many other team that wouldn’t struggle with 3 of the top 4 down ?
Why do bloggers start a new paragraph for almost every sentence?