Thursday, Nov. 23, is American Thanksgiving. It’s a day when families in the United States traditionally gather with their loved ones to stuff themselves full of turkey and watch a lot of NFL football. It’s also a measuring stick for NHL teams on whether they’ll make the playoffs or not. NHL teams in a playoff position on US Thanksgiving Night have ended up making the playoffs 77% of the time in the salary cap era. Ahem. Calling the Edmonton Oilers. Do you hear this?
The Oilers were supposed to have turned the corner after their 5-2 Heritage Classic Victory over the Calgary Flames in late October. Connor McDavid was back in the lineup for that game after being out for two games with an injury, Stuart Skinner was playing well, Evander Kane proved he’s back, and the team looked ready to hit November with a vengeance. Instead, they lay an egg against the Dallas Stars on home ice on Nov. 2 losing 4-3. One of the only positives from the loss to the Stars was the two-goal performance by Sam Gagner, who provided the Oilers with a much-needed spark, especially with his tenacity in the 3rd period.
So Where Do We Go From Here Oilers?
With a 2-6-1 record going into their afternoon home game against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 4, the Oilers seem to be falling further and further behind in the competitive Pacific Division standings. Forget about the Vegas Golden Knights, they’re running away with the division with a 10-0-1 record for 21 points. The Oilers are only 16 points behind the Golden Knights for first in the Pacific Division. The Vancouver Canucks are currently playing inspired hockey under head coach Rick Tocchet and have a 7-2-1 record good for 15 points and second place in the Pacific. They’re even starting to leave the Oilers in their dust.
Face it Oilers fans, all the pre-season hype about winning the Pacific Division and eventually the Stanley Cup should be thrown in the trash. The Oilers should realistically set a goal just to get in the playoffs and see what happens from there. It’s not as if a wild card team can’t win it all – just ask the newly crowned MLB World Series Champions, Texas Rangers.
What Needs Fixing in Edmonton?
Everything. You have to believe that the Oilers’ woeful start to the 2023-24 NHL season is keeping Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson and general manager Ken Holland up at night. Probably even Oilers owner Daryl Katz too. Everything, it seems, needs fixing. The Oilers could blame this disappointing start to the 2023-24 NHL season on injuries. McDavid doesn’t seem himself, Mattias Ekholm is still finding his way after an off-season injury, and so is Ryan McLeod. And now Connor Brown looks like he’ll be on the shelf for a while after leaving the Stars game on Nov. 2 with a lower-body injury.
Injuries are partly to blame, but it appears this Oilers team is playing with a huge lack of focus. It’s like they bought into the pre-season Stanley Cup Champion hype that was being heaped upon them from different corners of the NHL. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Some of head coach Jay Woodcroft’s decisions have been questionable. The lineup that Holland assembled isn’t working, but at least that’s being addressed by sending Adam Erne and Philip Broberg down to the Bakersfield Condors and calling up Gagner and Raphael Lavoie.
Are the Oilers in Need of a Big Shakeup?
Four of the Oilers’ next six games in early to mid-November are against Pacific Division opponents. And they need to make up ground starting right now, or they can kiss all the hype of a Stanley Cup season goodbye. The Oilers play the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, Nov 6, The San Jose Sharks on Nov 9, and the Seattle Kraken on Nov 11 and on Nov 15. The Oilers have to win at least three out of those four inter-division games or they could be looking at major changes. Unfortunately, Woodcroft’s job could be on the line. But that might be a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. The Oilers could use some clutch goaltending, maybe another veteran defenceman, and grit and scoring for their third and fourth lines.
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That’s a tall order, but if this is indeed the window to win for the franchise with McDavid and Leon Draistaitl still under their current contracts, then it’s time for the rubber to hit the road. Maybe Connor Brown goes on LTIR, and the Oilers can get some veteran help like Vegas did last season when Mark Stone went down. Maybe another team with goaltending issues is willing to take on Jack Campbell’s contract. Maybe it’s time to move Broberg or even shake the team up by sending another veteran to another team for some help. A lot of maybes. But it might be time to do something. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Re-setting expectations.
There’s a lot of anger among the Oilers fanbase. You can hear it on the sports shows and read it on Twitter. And rightfully so. Oilers fans are currently watching their team implode, and in a city where the fans live and die with every win, these are difficult times indeed. Maybe it’s time to face the reality that the Oilers are not going to win the Pacific Division. It might be easier on hearts and minds in Oil Country to focus instead on what the Texas Rangers did as a wildcard this season in MLB. Just get into the playoffs and see what happens. There’s a lot of hockey to be played between now and mid-April. Yet, if the Oilers don’t start showing some signs of life in November, there’s a chance that they could kiss it all goodbye. Oilers fans are hoping beyond hope that their team is at least in a playoff position by American Thanksgiving. On average, approximately three teams that are outside of the playoff picture on US Thanksgiving end up qualifying by the end of the season. Those aren’t very good odds. Hopefully, for Oilers fans, Edmonton can climb out of their early season funk. Considering the talent on this team, if they were to miss the playoffs, that would be a real shame.