How the mighty have fallen and so quickly. The Edmonton Oilers are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games and any chance for a Pacific Division title in the 2024-25 NHL Season are, in all likelihood, now gone. Back in February, before the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Oilers had grabbed first place in the Pacific Division, but thanks to a brutal stretch of games since Feb. 22, they have not only relinquished first place, they’re on a trajectory where they might be lucky to make the playoffs. In the Oilers’ most recent 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on March 13, they looked like a team that’s simply out of gas and is mentally exhausted. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch looks like a man who has run out of ideas, as he resorted to putting Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together for the majority of the game to create any kind of offensive spark.
Unfortunately, it’s a formula that got former Oilers head coaches Todd McLellan, Dave Tippett, and Jay Woodcroft fired. And, I hate to say it because I think Knoblauch’s a good coach, but if he can’t get this team turned around in a month, he won’t be around much longer either. And that’s really too bad, especially for a franchise and fan base that craves winning and stability. With the way the Oilers have been structured and handled since the beginning of the McDavid era, a great coach like Tampa Bay Lightning’s Jon Cooper wouldn’t last in Edmonton, let alone all the fine coaches this organization has gone through in the past 10 seasons.
What’s It Going To Take To Turn Oilers Around?
Unfortunately, I just don’t know if this Oilers team is going to be able to get up off the floor and make noise this spring. They look tired, worn out, and maybe worst of all, they look defeated. By loading up McDavid and Draisaitl, the coaching staff is essentially telling the rest of the team that they’ve given up hope that another line or group of forwards are capable of scoring. I’ve seen a lot of fans and critics post the numbers this season for former Oilers Dylan Holloway, Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod and complain about management letting the team down, but what’s done is done. They’re gone; it’s ancient history now. It’s not going to help by continually bringing their names up and wondering “what if.” It’s tiring, to be honest.
You think Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner don’t feel the pressure? In Arvidsson’s case, he needs to dig deep and rediscover his game he had before he came to Edmonton. And with Skinner, well, it would be nice if the coaches actually let the guy play instead of having him sit in the press box. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Brown, and Vasily Podkolzin are also going to have to get their games going. In Nugent-Hopkin’s case, you have to wonder if we’re witnessing him enter the decline of his career after 945-career games. You could literally point to every player on the roster not named Draisaitl and point out their flaws and underwhelming play, especially in the last two months, but it isn’t going to help. Neither is blaming President of Hockey Operations Jeff Jackson for his free agent signings in the offseason or talking about general manager Stan Bowman’s inability to bring in another goalie before the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.
Related: Hockey Experts Counting Oilers Out After Lackluster Trade Deadline
This team just needs a reset or a rest. The core led by McDavid, Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard, Stuart Skinner, and Mattias Ekholm have played a lot of hockey over the past two seasons and into the playoffs. Maybe all the postseason games and all the miles the team flies on road trips have finally caught up to them. There are no excuses. These are facts and maybe winning a Stanley Cup in the McDavid era will have to wait another season.
Can the Oilers Turn It Around by the Postseason?
With expectations being so high at the beginning of the season, it’s hard to face the reality that the Oilers, the team many predicted to win the Stanley Cup, might be lucky just to make it in as a Western Conference wild-card team. Right now, both the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks are just seven points behind the Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division, and with rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf igniting the Flames, it’s looking like a possibility that Calgary could catch Edmonton if the Oilers don’t get it together soon. After the Oilers wrap up their current road trip against the New York Islanders on March 14 and New York Rangers on March 16, they’ll be finished with the Eastern Time Zone games. They will have a schedule featuring a mix of eight home games and seven road games, including a four-game Nevada/California road trip in early April.
Rest is the only thing I can see helping this team right now. The two eastern road trips in less than a month have been too much for a team that was already tired. Are they also tired because they’re a veteran group who let go of so much youth in the offseason? Possibly, but the time for excuses is over.
The regular season will be over in a little more than a month, and if the Oilers can’t find another gear between now and then, it might be time to start thinking about next season. However, the optimist in me believes this team still has the talent to turn it around. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did because it seems to be a familiar pattern in Edmonton over the past 25-30 years that the Oilers play their best games in late March and early April. Maybe history will repeat itself and we’ll be looking at a positive playoff run. All I know is they’ve got a long way to go from here.
