Why, with so many Oilers having off-years, is Edmonton a Top-6 NHL team: 9 Things

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The Edmonton Oilers are 14-3-1 in their last eighteen games.

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You can spend five minutes online and be made to believe that this squad has all kinds of irreconcilable issues. Or you can look at their actual record and realize that the Stanley Cup Finalists from a year ago are on track to return.

The Oilers and their roster are not perfect. But no team is. And what Edmonton has no other club possesses.

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That and more in this edition of…

9 Things

9. Prospect Matthew Savoie is 3-7-10 in his last four games for Bakersfield and is a +4 over that stretch. He has twenty-four points in twenty-eight games.

8. Josh Brown was recalled by the Oilers on Saturday. With an extended road trip on tap it is good to have an experienced option available, especially with flu season in North America at its seasonal height.

7. Evan Bouchard is the fifth fastest active defenseman to two hundred career points. The guys ahead of him are Cale Makar, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes, and Erik Karlsson. He added an assist for 201 Saturday and was +2.

6. Connor McDavid did not register a point Saturday night. He also went pointless on Friday. So, this was the very first time in McDavid’s career that the Oilers have won back-to-back games without a point from Connor. It is a different team.

5. After the victory Saturday, Calvin Pickard has nine wins in thirteen decisions. Two of the losses were shutouts. He has also allowed two or fewer goals against nine times. That he gives Stuart Skinner valuable nights off is great. That Pickard wins or gives his teammates a chance to nearly every time he goes? Priceless.

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4. For Vasily Podkolzin to stick on that second line with Leon Draisaitl he needs to score a bit. He got his fourth goal on Saturday. There is no question about the rest of Podkolzin’s game. Most impressive is how he is almost always in the right spot. A terrific defensive play right in front of his own net saved a goal in Seattle.

3. Kasperi Kapanen has a chance to be a fourth line guy on a Stanley Cup contender. He has demonstrated on both sides of the puck that he is a “real” NHL player. But in that depth role you cannot make the mistake committed on Seattle’s 3-1 goal. With a game 3-0, a depth player needs to get that puck deep, not make a high-risk play that may give an otherwise dead team life. That error changes the game. If Draisaitl or McDavid want to attempt that play at the attacking blueline and in that situation it is one thing. Otherwise, recognize who you are, where you are on the ice and where the game is at.

2. Much ink has been spilled over what Jeff Skinner is not. What Skinner (typically) is though is a possession player. He has always had the ability to keep the puck on his stick, even in heavy traffic. Skinner’s slick assist against Anaheim and his goal scorer’s goal against Seattle are both evidence of that. No, the Skinner experiment in Edmonton has not gone well. But I do not expect a proud vet without a single playoff game to surrender his spot in the lineup of this team without a firm push. Interesting to see him get a shift with McDavid and Draisaitl late in Saturday’s game. Let us see what develops…

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1.Is there even an argument that the Edmonton Oilers very best player this season is Leon Draisaitl? He is now on a 14-game point streak, 12-15-27. That is the longest by anyone this season. And it equals his personal best 14-game streak from 2018-19. In the bigger picture, Draisaitl has twenty-nine goals in thirty-nine games. That leads the NHL. And while critics have called him a Power Play merchant, this season, forty-three of Leon’s fifty-nine points have come at even strength.

Then there is his resurgent defence. Draisaitl is Plus 22. And the real story inside of that stat is consistency. He has been Even or better in fifteen of his last twenty games. Draisaitl’s drive toward the attacking zone has always been relentless. But we are now seeing him come back in the other direction with equal alacrity. And he is over 56% in the faceoff circle.

Most of the Edmonton Oilers’ core players have had off-years by their standards, or at the very least…poor starts. Even Connor McDavid has resembled a mere mortal as of late. Yet, the Oilers have the sixth most points in the entire league (tied with L.A.). How on earth can that be?

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Because not only is Leon Draisaitl the leading candidate for both the Richard and the Hart Trophy, and he is second in league scoring…his defensive work has him in line for a Selke nod.

The Oilers are one of the best teams in the NHL in 2024-25.

And Leon Draisaitl is the biggest reason.

Newly on Bluesky @kurtleavins.bsky.social. On Twitter @KurtLeavins, Threads @kleavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and even on Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social. This article is not AI generated.

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