Oilers’ 2-9-1 Start a Distant Memory After Clinching Playoff Berth – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

Hands as much as these of you who, again in November, noticed the 2-9-1 Edmonton Oilers clinching a playoff spot with seven video games to go. Anybody? Bueller? Bueller? You could have made this sort of prediction originally of the 2023-24 season when folks like ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski were prognosticating that the Oilers would make the Stanley Cup Final.

Related: NHL Insiders Predicting Big Things For Oilers in 23-24

All the favorable predictions for the Oilers seemed good earlier than the puck dropped on the 2023-24 season, after which the precise video games obtained began. And oh boy, what a distinction. It’s humorous how a crew can look good on paper, however whenever you begin enjoying the video games, issues are inclined to tackle a lifetime of their very own.

Oilers Couldn’t Have Started the 2023-24 NHL Season Any Worse

Back on the opening night time of the 23-24 NHL Season, Jack Campbell was getting ready for his redemption season as he obtained the beginning for the Oilers in Game 1 towards the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 11. It didn’t take lengthy for desires in Oil Country to get dashed because the Canucks handed the Oilers their lunch in an 8-1 drubbing at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Things, after all, didn’t get too significantly better from there because the Oilers obtained off to a horrendous 2-9-1 begin, which led to the firing of Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft and Assistant Coach Dave Manson and the hiring of recent head coach Kris Knoblauch and assistant coach Paul Coffey on Nov. 12.

The Oilers’ first month of the 23-24 NHL season may need been one of many worst months in franchise historical past. It was not all Woodcroft’s fault, both, as each Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm had been battling early-season accidents. In reality, I credit score a wholesome McDavid with serving to to show the tide and the season round. That’s why I feel he ought to be within the combine to win the Hart Trophy.

Under Head Coach Knoblauch the Oilers Are 43-15-4

In actually one of many biggest turnarounds in Oilers historical past, the crew underneath Knoblauch has catapulted itself not solely in rivalry however again into the dialog of being one of many groups to beat for the Stanley Cup. They rode a 16-game winning streak near the mid-means level of the season and climbed over groups to now sit comfortably in second place within the Pacific Division. They are nonetheless inside hanging of the primary-place Canucks with seven video games.

Back when issues had been wanting their darkest, many followers had been simply hoping the crew might scrape collectively some wins underneath Knoblauch to sneak into a Wild Card spot on the ultimate date of the common season. But the crew has undoubtedly surpassed that expectation and extra. Knoblauch and Coffey have the Oilers enjoying impressed hockey, and excluding current losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs (6-3 on March 23) and a dangerous 5-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on April 3, the Oilers have been fairly constant.

Now That the Oilers Are In the Playoffs, What Should We Expect?

The Oilers are going to need to proceed to tighten up defensively and hopefully deliver up a few of their younger expertise from the Bakersfield Condors to get in some NHL motion earlier than the postseason begins. I’m hoping that forwards Dylan Holloway, Raphael Lavoie, and defenceman Philip Broberg get in some video games, and I’d like to see goaltender Olivier Rodrigue get one or two begins. It’s going to be robust to tug McDavid from the lineup as he’s at the moment within the thick of the NHL scoring race with Tampa Bay Lightnings Nikita Kucherov and Colorado Avalanche Forward Nate MacKinnon.

The Oilers additionally play 5 video games in seven nights to shut out the 2023-24 NHL common season. That stretch is likely to be the opportune time to usher in some assist from Bakersfield and relaxation a few of the veterans, particularly if the Oilers are comfortably in a place to have residence-ice benefit for no less than one sequence within the playoffs.

The loopy a part of all of this…is there’s no means anybody might’ve predicted that is how the Oilers season would go. Many felt again in October and November that the season was dead, however right here we’re in April with the Oilers wanting like they could have a likelihood to do large issues this spring. Is fact stranger than fiction? In the case of the Edmonton Oilers 2023-24 common season, the reply is a resounding YES. The story solely will get higher if the Oilers win extra video games than they lose within the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Then you’ve actually obtained one thing.