Improved. But not an elite Cup Contender.
Forward depth is strongly improved. With it the Oilers level of compete and intensity should also improve along with ideally a growing ability and willingness to defend. There will be some solid versatility for this coach to move people around the lineup to leverage in-game tactical advantages including the McDavid/Draisaitl stack with better, bigger wing support for Nugent-Hopkins to move into 2C. Key will be Yamamoto. I'd prefer him to move into a 3W energy role to spark his development.
Bottom six key forward is McLeod. Can he drive offence at the NHL level or will he split time with Ryan as 3/4C. Can Foegele net 15+ goals?
Defense is at best a push to last years corp, imo. We saw the importance of long, physical d-corp during the marathon of NHL playoffs. This d should move the puck better but will it defend as well in the battle areas of the ice? There are more question marks here that'll take 30-40 games to see how this re-tooled d-corp stand up. Will Ceci stabilize second pairing d including shutdown responsibilities in absence of a hard, physical and mean meateater Larsson? Bouchard should be solid in third pairing minutes but how will quickly will his ability to defend develop? What will the third pairing LD look like/perform like with Russell/4K, Lagesson all in the mix. Keith in reduced minutes and new team is a question mark but one I feel most confident in to meet expectation. Nurse's baseline is now the breakthrough season he had last year.
Goaltending is not good enough to drive a Cup run until the Oilers find a backstopper who can steal games and win playoff series. Smith was a revelation last year and can be a great mentor to the 'next one' who will need to be acquired to drive this team's next step into an elite contender. Koskinen stat line appears okay but he has shown to shrink in big game situations with prone to bad goalies and inconsistency that betrays decent stat lines. Elite goaltending is the backbone to deep playoff runs, whether cinderella one-offs or consistent excellence we see on legitimate Cup contenders.
Holland is shaping his team. Moving in the right direction with another step forward required this year. But not yet among the 'big boys' until some of the question marks are answered.