McGenerational
Registered User
- Dec 7, 2017
- 49
- 15
Looking back through the years, the Oilers (and their fans) have some precedents to look at to fuel hopes of a "miracle" run to the playoffs.
That being said, the list is a short one.
After a 10-14-2 start through October and November, if the Oilers make the playoffs this season the feat would be essentially equal to that of the 2007-2008 Flames (10-13-3 start), 2010-2011 Sabers (9-13-3 start), and 2013-2014 Blue Jackets (10-14-3 start).
The only club with a markedly worse start in the Cap Era was the 2007-2008 Capitals (8-16-2 start). There are some other examples of sub-.500 clubs through the end of November that clawed their way to the playoffs albeit with records around one games below the .500 mark. In 2007-2008, per the above, the Flames and Caps both made it. Never in the Cap Era have three teams had sub-.500 starts and made it. There have also been seasons when no such team managed to get there at all.
In each of 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2011-2012 and 2014-2015 there wasn't a single team that had a sub-.500 start through the end of November that made the playoffs.
The Habs are on a bit of a roll now, but they were exactly .500 through the end of November (12-12-3). Detroit, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Florida and Edmonton are all possible playoff contenders with sub-.500 records through the first two months of the season (let's go ahead and write off Arizona).
If you were going to predict which of these above teams could pull it off, you'd probably go with the teams that made the playoffs last year: Ottawa and Edmonton. Both have fairly similar rosters to last season. Both have starting goalies having terrible beginnings but solid historical stats. The Oilers are probably the only team in the West that had a sub-.500 start with a real chance to get back into it (due in part to many other teams having .500 or better records).
So...
Hope springs eternal?
Wishful thinking?
Realistic chance based on historical precedent?
All this does is give me hope.
Three teams did it in the last few years and none of those teams had Connor McDavid.
Hell, none of those teams even had a #1C. We have two elite ones.
I haven't looked closely at the scheddy but is there an opportunity coming up for us to get hot and go on a roll?