Three games into the 2024-25 NHL season, the Edmonton Oilers have a record of 0-3-0 and have been outscored 15-3. They are the only team in the NHL to have played at least three games without picking up a point and have a league-worst goal differential of minus-12.
In their season opener at Rogers Place last Wednesday (Oct. 9), the Oilers were spanked 6-0 by the Winnipeg Jets. Then they dropped two more games at home over the weekend, losing 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday (Oct. 12) and 4-1 to the Calgary Flames on Sunday (Oct. 13).
Related: Oilers Look Nothing Like Contenders in Another Season-Opening Shellacking
This is not what fans were hoping nor expecting to see from a team that was one goal away from hoisting the Stanley Cup just 16 weeks ago. Needless to say, there is already great discontent in Oil Country, and the season isn’t even a week old yet.
How dreadful has this start been to Edmonton’s season? Let us count the ways.
Worst Home Start Ever
It’s bad enough that the Oilers have crashed out of the gate. But what makes matters worse is that it all happened at Rogers Place, in full view of their fans who paid a pretty penny for the privilege of witnessing this trainwreck.
In 45 seasons of NHL hockey in Edmonton, this is the first time that the Oilers have failed to get at least one point through their first three games at home.
The Oilers are now one regulation loss away from equalling the worst start in franchise history, 0-4-0, which happened in 1995-96 and 2015-16. Edmonton went on to miss the playoffs in both of those seasons.
Big Guns Firing Blanks
Edmonton’s top three goal-scorers last season, Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, combined to light the lamp 127 times in 2023-24, an average of 1.55 goals per game. Through three games in 2024-25, they’ve combined to score just once, with Draisaitl tallying against Chicago on Saturday.
Draisaitl and McDavid, who are the NHL’s top two point producers over the last nine seasons, have one and two points, respectively, through three games. Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who ranked third through fifth on the Oilers in points last season, are pointless thus far in 2024-25.
Flatlining on the Penalty Kill
If there is one thing the Oilers could take solace in after Sunday’s loss to the Flames, it’s that they killed off all three of Calgary’s power-play opportunities. But they still have the worst penalty kill in the NHL so far this season, at just 44.4%. That’s because they were a ghastly 1/6 on the PK in their first two games.
To put that in perspective, the Oilers gave up more power-play goals in the first two games this season than during their entire 2024 playoff run. Edmonton killed off 66 of 70 penalties over 25 games last postseason.
Multiple Goals Disallowed
Here’s how you know things are going bad: so far this season the Oilers have had as many goals called back as they’ve actually scored.
In Saturday’s loss to Chicago, Viktor Arvidsson had what would have been his first goal as an Oiler taken off the board for goaltender inference after a video review ruled the Edmonton forward had knocked TJ Brodie into Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek.
On Sunday, the Oilers had two goals waived off. The first was again due to goaltender interference, as Corey Perry was ruled to have been in Calgary’s crease when he put the puck past Flames netminder Dan Vladar. The second was because Arvidsson was determined to be offside before Derek Ryan scored on Vladar.
Those two disallowed goals against the Flames could have given Edmonton a 3-0 lead. Instead, the Oilers’ advantage remained just 1-0, and Calgary went on to score four unanswered goals.
Frightful Play in October
Halloween has turned into a month-long affair for the Oilers, who are enduring a nightmarish stretch for the second consecutive October.
Last season, Edmonton went 2-5-1 in October, and one of those wins was outdoors at Commonwealth Stadium in the 2023 Heritage Classic. That means the Oilers are just 2-8-1 combined in October the last two seasons, including 0-5-1 at Rogers Place.
The first month had previously been great for the Oilers, who went 21-8-1 in October from 2019 to 2022.
Lots of Time Left
The most important stat to remember, however, is that Edmonton has 79 games remaining. The Oilers showed last season that what happens in October doesn’t have to determine whether you’ll still be playing in June.
That said, the Oilers might want to get on track as soon as possible, and their next chance to get their first win comes Tuesday (Oct. 15) when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.
