Do the Oilers make the playoffs?

[Les Pantalons Fancie]

I just want to play devil's advocate here. Now, while a good philosophy is to hope for the best, plan for the worst, where are the Oilers at season's end should a few players regress. Players such as Talbot, Nurse, Klefbom or even Draisaitl; Talbot would have the biggest impact, without a doubt. Or supposing that Klefbom, with his over 22:00 TOI, would have his game taper off slightly? Are the Oilers a strong enough group to overcome this? Or perhaps our defensive core is unable to compensate, by committee, the loss of Sekera at the beginning of the season. Could the Oilers navigate a bad start and still have a successful campaign? Lets not forget that the Oilers had an increase of 33 pts from the season before; in large part, if not completely, because of McDavid and Talbot; and to a lower degree a defensive buy-in from the team as a whole. So again I ask, do the Oilers make the playoffs, keeping in mind what made us a playoff team last year?


And can the season start already!!

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[Dorian2]

Even though we had very few key injuries last year, this group of players has grown up big time in the last year or so. I'd be very surprised if the Oil didn't make the Playoffs this year. And go further in as well. We're pretty deep in most areas now IMO.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

I'm thinking around 7th place if we do.

 

[TheRebuild]

As long as McDavid's playing, yes. If not, then no.

 

[McJesusSaves97]

We easily get in...we also see a battle of Alberta where we sweep the , then play the for the cup

 

[MoneyGuy]

We easily get in...we also see a battle of Alberta where we sweep the , then play the for the cup

And...?

How did your dream finish?

 

[Les Pantalons Fancie]

As long as McDavid's playing, yes. If not, then no.

Perhaps this is a better question......
Do we make the playoffs then, if McDavid misses significant time but everything else were to stay status quo?

 

[ThePhoenixx]

And...?

How did your dream finish?

It's actually possible.

Do some people forget that they almost won the division and would have been in the conference final if it hadn't been for some atrocious refereeing?

 

[Yeah15]

And...?

How did your dream finish?

Oilers currently favourites to win the western conference off of vegas odds sites, don't see how his post is so out of reality.

 

[KCC]

Yes. Barring a ton of injuries. The pacific is pretty sub par so as long as they remain competitive they will get in.

 

[Les Pantalons Fancie]

Oilers currently favourites to win the western conference off of vegas odds sites, don't see how his post is so out of reality.

Fair enough. I guess the only implausible outcomes atm are finishing dead last or winning the stanley cup going 16-0. Everything in between can be argued for.

And I would hope his dream ended with a chamionship

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

if everyone continues from where they left off we easily make the playoffs. "we".

 

[NeverForget06]

Barring some bad injuries I think we make it pretty easily. The Pacific isn't as mighty as it used to be. Plus we are going to pick up some more points playing against Vegas.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Yes, 100%. They will be playing for the division title rather than a wildcard.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

We should but it's by no means a given. Teams will be gunning for the Oilers next year and we're already starting off the season with injury problems.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

We should but it's by no means a given. Teams will be gunning for the Oilers next year and we're already starting off the season with injury problems.

Anaheim also has injury problems. Edmonton is NOT exclusive to this.

 

[McShogun99]

I think we are virtually a lock for the playoffs for the next 9 years. This season we finish 1st in the division and 2nd in the Conference.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Injuries are always the wild card. If we stay relatively healthy we should get in. Sekera being out already has us behind the 8 ball.

 

[Mr Positive]

Anaheim also has injury problems. Edmonton is NOT exclusive to this.

Anaheim might not start the year with either Lindholm or Vatanen. If we're expecting Sekera to have a bit of an off year when he gets back, we should assume the same for them

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Anaheim might not start the year with either Lindholm or Vatanen. If we're expecting Sekera to have a bit of an off year when he gets back, we should assume the same for them

Didn't Kesler get shoulder surgery?

 

[McXLNC97]

Didn't Kesler get shoulder surgery?

Think it was hip surgery...4-5 month recovery is what they were saying.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Think it was hip surgery...4-5 month recovery is what they were saying.

Did old man Kesler get hip replacement surgery?

 

[MoneyGuy]

It's actually possible.

Do some people forget that they almost won the division and would have been in the conference final if it hadn't been for some atrocious refereeing?

You missed my question.

Oilers currently favourites to win the western conference off of vegas odds sites, don't see how his post is so out of reality.

Oilers sweeping Calgary and playing the Pens in the final? I'm not a Vegas oddsmaker but I'd give big odds on that happening.

 

[UnicornONtheCOBB]

I hate that some Oiler fans still have this negative attitude, why even question if this team is going to regress and miss the playoffs? Obviously injuries can happen and affect, that can happen to any team, including the Penguins, Hawks, Bolts, Caps, etc.. So leave that out of it. Let's discuss how much this team can improve and advance, not the opposite.

 

[Still DRAI]

If we're going strictly by the Vegas odds, we're currently in a 4-way tie for second most likely team to win the cup, with Anaheim, Tampa, and Washington. It's still way too early to make anything more than an educated guess, but at least as far as oddsmakers go, we're counted among the powerhouses now.

As far as my own gut feeling goes, I think we're competing with Anaheim for the Pacific division again. Arizona, Vancouver, and Vegas are all bottom feeders. San Jose took (in my opinion) a step back, Calgary took a bit of a step forwards but are also relying on Mike Smith being a consistent goaltender, and LA is relying on like half of their team having bounce-back years.

Anaheim and us are really the only teams that don't have question marks surrounding us going in to 2017-18 (assuming, of course, that Draisaitl is re-signed soon). We'll be fighting them for the divisional title for the next number of years, and the way that the playoffs are currently formatted, I'd expect that whichever one of us can beat the other is the team most likely to come out of the pacific.