Teams coming back to earth

[NeverForget06]

Need to sustain our goaltending and special teams play to continue our success.Yes, we have beaten a bunch of non-playoff teams, but I think the Oilers themselves were probably marked down as a winnable game for most teams coming into the season.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

They've been winning games they would have lost the last few years

 

[bronco73]

You want an answer? Other teams are beating them up, maybe not in points and goals but you act like they got these wins easily. They struggled in every game and that's against bottom feeders lol oilers are trash

This is an outright ridiculous statement to make. You boast that the Oilers have beaten only basement teams... let's check this out shall we? The Sabres have beaten one team in the top 15, The rest have been in the bottom half of the league. NJD 29'th, FLA 24'th, CBJ 22'nd. The only teams in the top half of the standings that you beat were PGH and MTL at 12 and 15. The "quality" of teams thus far this year that the Sabres have beaten are no better than the ones the Oilers have beaten. Glass houses a plenty in your world hey? And that trash team is ahead of yous in the standings this year, was three places ahead of yours in the standings last year, 8 ahead of them in '18, and a whopping 18 ahead of them in '17. You say the Oilers have "struggled" and the Sabres got their wins easily? Oilers have a higher goal differential than the Sabres do right now. If they are trash, then your team is an outright cesspool. Pretty much everything you said here is rubbish.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

They look pretty decent and are beating teams they "should" beat if they want to be competitive this year and doing so is a huge accomplishment especially early in the season.

Their real concern is still depth. They fall off pretty hard in their bottom 6 and bottom pairing and that could pose some real problems as soon as teams start matching up and going hard against the weaker aspects of their game.

Enjoy this Oilers fans. Not saying you will come crashing back down to earth, but the start is promising so just enjoy the ride and hope for continued success as the season rolls on cause it's just going to get tougher.

I agree that the drop off is substantial, however we were missing a key bottom 6 piece in Alex Chiasson against your club and when Adam Larsson returns he could be our 3rd pairing RHD and would be lightyears better than our weakest link on D Matt Benning. I still question if we'll have enough offensive firepower up front without adding another top 9 guy that can score.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

You want an answer? Other teams are beating them up, maybe not in points and goals but you act like they got these wins easily. They struggled in every game and that's against bottom feeders lol oilers are trash

There we go, let it all out.

And you're wrong. Blatantly so.

 

[Mickey Marner]

They're certainly not "good", but having 10 pts in the bank greatly increases their odds of making the playoffs.

 

[The Panther]

The short answer is, "yes".

I've been following the Oilers for 34 years. They look good right now.

Let's put it this way: In October 2017 (when expectations were high), it was very clear after five games that the Oilers had sagged badly and were probably in trouble. In October 2018, it wasn't clear after only five games, but it was clear after about 20 -- and probably sooner -- that the team was again in big trouble.

This season, it's like night and day so far compared to the past two seasons, and I don't mean only their won-lost record.

The whole matter of hiring Holland and thereby clearing out Lucic (and most of his contract) seemed like a refreshing blast of clean air, and I have a feeling the players felt relieved about that, too. I still think the Oilers' weakness is at wing, where they are still quite thin, but at least they're a heck of a lot better off than they were at the end of last season. (In case anyone forgot, James Neal now has 7 goals. With Chiasson's injury in the middle of last season, the Oilers at one point in January 2019 iced an NHL team where the top-scoring winger in the line-up had 4 goals on the season. After 40 games.)

Even more impressive is the defence core. With the promotion of Ethan Bear (finally!) to full-time duty, and his surprising chemistry with Nurse, the Oilers have magically invented a solid new D-pairing, and Bear can actually pass the puck (very well) and get shots on net. Meanwhile, new guy Joel Persson is looking very solid in a defensive role (I think he has some crazy-good Corsi evaluation so far).

As a consequence of the addition of Bear and Neal, the Oilers suddenly have a decent power-play.

Oilers fans have been crapping on goalie Mikko Koskinen since he lost a couple of games last season, but I can't figure out why. He's so far 27-21-6 as an Oiler, a pace that would have put the team in the playoffs (8th place) last season. And Mike Smith has been superb in two of three games, and will be fine as long as he doesn't wander from the net too much.

Most of all, of course, the Dynamic Duo have been lighting it up. Draisaitl is probably out-playing McDavid so far this year, which pretty much says it all... and McDavid leads the League in scoring. (Good to see Drai get the empty-netter today. Empty-netters are what allowed Ovechkin to beat him for the Richard trophy last season! Although I see Ovechkin also got an empty-netter.)

What's most remarkable, team-wise, is how the Oilers have trailed in all five games, but won all five. They've only trailed for 39 minutes (of 305) so far this season, and every single time they went down a goal they scored very soon after to tie it up.

There's definitely a sense of a corner having been turned with the Oilers. I have no particular impression of Dave Tippet yet, and I'm sure he'll have his difficult challenges to come, but whatever buttons he's been pushing it's certainly been working.

I predicted that the Oilers would make the playoffs -- barely -- prior to this season, and nothing about that expectation has changed. Consider this: the Avalanche made it in last season, finishing 8 games over Bettman .500. The Oilers, this season, can match that record by playing only three games over .500 the rest of the season.

I expect Edmonton to finished somewhere around the 6th, 7th, or 8th seed in the Western Conference. But whatever, as long as they're competitive and not dysfunctional at an organizational level anymore.

 

[7even]

Come from behind wins are fun from a story perspective but largely not how you want to win games

I've been wondering why they aren't better than they are for a couple years so it's not shocking to see some success. Where it goes? Who's to say. Play the games for a reason

 

[Kevs Security]

Now obviously I absolutely hate the Oilers because of their success back in the 80's, and I also hate how they won four draft lotteries, and I hate Pete Chiarelli, Kevin Lowe and the OBC, truth to be told I pretty much hate everything about the Oilers. But they are winning games, aint no question about it. However, I must say that [MOD].

 

[Sniper99]

Too soon. A lot is going right and an easy schedule to start

Now now, nothing is easy when you're the Oilers, its still the Oilers I expected them to lose saturday as it was an early afternoon game and they seem to struggle with those.

 

[Porkleaker]

Expected to lose at least two of the last 5 so they're exceeding my expectations but looking at how those teams have been playing, I think some people are getting way ahead of themselves. But nothing wrong with building confidence and racking up points early.

 

[SenzZen]

We have threads on the canes and Sabres

Seems only fair

This is flawed logic.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Their defense says otherwise.

 

[Pointteen]

The team is definitely improved, how much is still TBD as we are a long ways from game 82. IMO we need a better 2nd line LW than Jurco to get the best out of Neal and RNH. Nygard MIGHT be that player but it's TBD. Sheahan's addition has really helped our bottom 6 defensively and on the PK. Ethan Bear has been HUGE for our club and Darnell Nurse looks like he has taken yet another step in his development. Overall this team has a different feel than the ones that we've had the last 2 seasons.

This team is in a position where it crumbles without Nurse.

Incredible job by him so far.

Draisaitl's defensive plays are standing out with a good coach too.

 

[angusyoung]

Expected to lose at least two of the last 5 so they're exceeding my expectations but looking at how those teams have been playing, I think some people are getting way ahead of themselves. But nothing wrong with building confidence and racking up points early.

Good start to the season,but to be fair,they played against abysmal competition .

 

[Snowpants]

You want an answer? Other teams are beating them up, maybe not in points and goals but you act like they got these wins easily. They struggled in every game and that's against bottom feeders lol oilers are trash

Again I can only laugh at a Sabre fan calling other teams bottom feeders...

 

[Digitalbooya]

Neal for Lucic. Got rid of a huge cap dump, got back a guy good enough to have more goals in 5 games than Lucic had in 79 last year. Goaltending has been decent. Defense is still pretty blah. Love Nygard's speed.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

8th highest PDO in the league. Weak wingers. Very top heavy. Not sustainable in my opinion. Again, continue to catch feelings because someone has a different opinion on the Oilers.

I do think they'll regress given the advanced stats but you can't just throw PDO out there like that. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Edmonton finished 8th at the end of the season for PDO. That's what happens when you have players like McDavid and Draisaitl on your team - high percentage shots.

 

[snag]

You want an answer? Other teams are beating them up, maybe not in points and goals but you act like they got these wins easily. They struggled in every game and that's against bottom feeders lol oilers are trash

Someone is still bitter they got the spoils. Gotta say, it is a joy to watch Connor McDavid. You should actually try it sometime.

 

[Todd from Leduc]

It's crazy to me to think that we have had both a crap schedule with games all over the map to start and bad reffing in yet we are still Top in the League. This is our year to get the League's respect and win big.

 

[Jumptheshark]

This is flawed logic.

We are a head of them in the standings and were worse then one of the last year?

So how is the logic flawed?

 

[GKG18]

Learning how to win is what makes young teams into good teams.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say maybe, just maybe it's because all the wins combined for the teams tou have played amount to 6. Lol you're jumping the gun tremendously

She tends to do that (jumping the gun), but the Oilers doing well seems to affect you a lot.

It’s too early and a bait thread for when we take some L’s. Look at how that 40 goal Neal thread turned out. We’re doing the same. Regardless I am happy watching the team win, 5-0, first time since the dynasty. 6th cup to follow.

 

[MoreMogilny]

They’re winning games and banking points. Early season success gives you breathing room when the games get tighter and moving up in the standings is more difficult.

I’ve only watched 2 full games and parts of a couple more, but when you have two superstars you have a chance to win every game. Adding Neal has obviously paid handsomely right off the bat. I think they are struggling to win the “right” way, and as the season goes on they will be in tough to sustain success, but they’re still an exciting team that is on a run right now.

As a fan of the sport, how can you not love watching McDavid and Drai do what they do. They’re both phenomenal.

 

[Nordiques1979]

Too early!

When Neal's bubble will explose and the lack of depth will definitely shows, Oilers will struggle.

Hopefully none of Mcdavid or Draisaitl get hurt because they are carrying the team on their shoulders.