Speculation: Predicting Edmonton's ranking in the West

[Cloned]

Until they prove us wrong otherwise, out of the playoffs. Bottom 3 in the West.

 

[rboomercat90]

Now that Barry Trotz is gone in Nashville I think this is the year they fall off a cliff. He always seemed to get everything his players had to give. The glue that held a lot of bad teams together. With new coaches and new systems coming in it could finally fall apart there. To me this is the only Western team the Oilers finish ahead of.

We should be better than Calgary but we should have been better last year too. As long as the Flames are showing up and competing every night like they have been under Hartley they'll stay ahead of the Oilers. Unless the Oilers develop a willingness to outwork their opponents they're pretty much stuck where they've been. Maybe this is the year some of our guys start showing commitment to doing everything they need to do to win. After what we saw a lot of nights last year it's hard to imagine it happening.

I still think there's too big of a gap to catch anybody else in the conference unless somebody gets hit really hard by injuries.

 

[CorpseFX]

bottom 3 in west.

i could see 13th.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Now that Barry Trotz is gone in Nashville I think this is the year they fall off a cliff. He always seemed to get everything his players had to give. The glue that held a lot of bad teams together. With new coaches and new systems coming in it could finally fall apart there. To me this is the only Western team the Oilers finish ahead of.

We should be better than Calgary but we should have been better last year too. As long as the Flames are showing up and competing every night like they have been under Hartley they'll stay ahead of the Oilers. Unless the Oilers develop a willingness to outwork their opponents they're pretty much stuck where they've been. Maybe this is the year some of our guys start showing commitment to doing everything they need to do to win. After what we saw a lot of nights last year it's hard to imagine it happening.

I still think there's too big of a gap to catch anybody else in the conference unless somebody gets hit really hard by injuries.

I can't imagine how bad the Predators system could be with the defencemen the Preds have and a healthy Pekka Rinne for them to finish below us.
On top of all that, their new coach that could produce this horrible system, in the past 4 seasons, has made the 2nd round twice, and won the Stanley Cup once. And our coach is Dallas 'Swarm' Eakins

 

[thadd]

I can't imagine how bad the Predators system could be with the defencemen the Preds have and a healthy Pekka Rinne for them to finish below us.
On top of all that, their new coach that could produce this horrible system, in the past 4 seasons, has made the 2nd round twice, and won the Stanley Cup once. And our coach is Dallas 'Swarm' Eakins

You never know. He might get less out of his d-men than Trotz did.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

You never know. He might get less out of his d-men than Trotz did.

Oh without a doubt he won't get as much out of his defense as Trots did.
Even if he doesn't though, our defense is inferior and our coaching is inferior. And our goaltending is especially inferior. And not by a little. Our offense won't be able to make up for that. Especially without a second line center.

 

[thadd]

Oh without a doubt he won't get as much out of his defense as Trots did.
Even if he doesn't though, our defense is inferior and our coaching is inferior. And our goaltending is especially inferior. And not by a little. Our offense won't be able to make up for that. Especially without a second line center.

I donno... call me crazy... but since we're not that super undersized team anymore I'm not so afraid of the injury bug... and we've got 2 1B starters and a few goalies kinda capable of being back-ups in the minors and a ton of young d-men ready to come up for injury replacements and a handful of young forwards who could play some minutes in case of injuries...

I'm feeling more comfortable this year.

We've got a potent top six a third line that should score it's fair share of points and a pretty mean 4th line.

We've got a ton of defenemen capable of playing different roles.

I'm feeling much better about this season.

 

[Zihuatanejo]

Being cautiously optimistic I think this team has the potential to be in the conversation for a playoff push later in the season, assuming we can stay healthy. That's my hope anyway and I refuse to start the season expecting failure, I still want to look forward to Thursday.

I like the changes that MacT has made and I'm not sure why so many people are down on him, I think he likely did all that was available to him and still has plans to pursue anything possible to help the team. He's a smart man and was an excellent coach who worked with less than stellar personnel. In my opinion he has done a lot to repair the damage done to this roster.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

4th in the Pacific, 9th in the West. 92 points.

y-San Jose
x-Los Angeles
x-Anaheim
Edmonton
Vancouver
Phoenix
Calgary

z-St. Louis
x-Chicago
x-Colorado
x-Dallas
x-Minnesota
Nashville
Winnipeg

 

[rt]

Non-Playoffs:

9. Vancouver
10. Winnipeg
11. Arizona
12. Nashville
13. Edmonton
14. Calgary

 

[Mr Positive]

No one ever accused the Oilers of living up to their potential. In fact, our M.O. is that we under achieve. It's hard to guess where we end up because that guess assumes the degree that we under achieve

Imo if we start clicking, we could finish 6th. If we have a re run of last season, then maybe 12th or 13th in the west. We probably have the widest spread of realistic outcomes in the west.

To pick one, I'll take the average. 9th

 

[Moose Coleman]

If everything breaks right, they'll challenge for 10th in the west (ahead of Calgary, Winnipeg and Arizona and pushing Nashville) but the margin of error is slim indeed. God this conference is a meat grinder.

But here's a question: would fans be happy with little improvement in the standings (say they finish 14th) but overall improvements (say, they shave 40 off their goal differential, Yak scores 25-30 goals, RNH approaches a PPG, that sort of thing)?

 

[DarksideGhost]

bottom 3 in west.

i could see 13th.

Same....

My prediction as to why I feel the Oilers will finish 13 or 14 in the West:

• With in the first 20 games, we will win 30% of them. Causing Dallas Eakins to be Fired. Then hiring getting a proper non-rookie-NHL-coach.
  
• Hall, Eberle, Schultz and Ference will some how get injured within the season because we are the Oilers.
  
• Nuge, Yak will carry the team.
  
• Will Acton will play on second line with Draisaitl because his dad says so.
  
• Draisaitl will have a good year, but not great.
  
• Nurse will stay in the big club all year because of injuries.
  
• Marincin will also be called up with in the middle of the season.
  
• Oh ya Kevin Lowe will finally step down.
  
• Win the Lotto, Other GM Heads explode!
  
• 2015 - Conner McDavid or Jack Eichel then Stanley cup!! Edmonton Parade

Note: Prediction might not come true or will it lol!

 

[PaPaDee]

If we had a second line center, I'd say 7th or 8th. As it stands now, 10th or 11th.

 

[CornKicker]

oilers finish 3rd in the division and 7th overall in the conference, then we get dallas in the playoffs and we roll them reversing the years they rolled us.

 

[McDoused]

1. Chicago
2. San Jose
3. Anaheim
4. St Louis
5. Los Angeles
6. Dallas
7. Colorado
8. Minnesota
9. Edmonton
10. Vancouver
11. Arizona
12. Nashville
13. Winnipeg
14. Calgary

I think the top 7 are set. After that it's a toss up. Minnesota needs goaltending, Arizona needs top end scoring and Vancouver needs depth.

 

[dem]

I absolutely hate the start of our schedule this year...

Flames and Nucks will be fired up to kill our year before it starts.

 

[thadd]

I absolutely hate the start of our schedule this year...

Flames and Nucks will be fired up to kill our year before it starts.

But think of it this way, we've evolved more than they have. We've changed for the better more than they have and we know their rosters better than they know ours.

Our coaching staff, most of our youngsters and vets know who they're playing. They don't have that going for them.

 

[thadd]

oilers finish 3rd in the division and 7th overall in the conference, then we get dallas in the playoffs and we roll them reversing the years they rolled us.

If we make the playoffs I'm taking a sabbatical from work even if it means losing my job to make sure that I don't miss a single Oilers game.

100% serious.

Can't see it happening.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

If we have Hall and Nuge for 80% of the season I can see the season going...

1. ST Louis
2. Anahein
3. Chicago
4. LA
5.Dallas
6. Minnesota
7. San Jose
8. Colarado
9. Edmonton
10. Vancouver
11. Nashville
12. Arizona
13. Winnipeg
14. Calgary

 

[Tekneek]

13th

I can't see an Eakins coached team accomplishing too much. He seems like a great guy, but I think his coaching chops are vastly overrated.

 

[NeverForget06]

I will say the Oilers finish 11th in the west ahead of Calgary,Phoenix and Winnipeg. However I do believe within the next two years we will pass Nashville, Vancouver and San Jose in the standings.

 

[OilerPensfan97]

We finish 10th with 83 points. Ahead of Calgary, Arizona, Winnipeg, and Nashville.

 

[winnipegger]

Hope you don't mind me posting here, will try to be objective.

I think edmonton has improved in goaltending, and arguably will improve in offense with RNH having a good year and yakupov developing. Those are both question marks however. Goaltending is the only area where I see clear improvement.

That's important though, everyone remembers dubnyk more or less sinking the ship on his own in october and november last year. I think goaltending will contribute 5 - 10 point increase from last year.

I know it sounds biased because I am a winnipeg fan but it's hard to agree with the majority of posters here predicting edmonton finishing ahead of winnipeg, nashville calgary and vancouver...all of whom handily finished ahead of edmonton last year. And the improvements made by edmonton don't really surpass the improvement's made by those other teams. I get it though, I am claiming that winnipeg will have a colorado like run this year and this is supported by exactly zero evidence. Anyway, enjoy the season

 

[dustrock]

If we had a second line center, I'd say 7th or 8th. As it stands now, 10th or 11th.

Yeah, this exactly.