There’s a quote from the greatest basketball player of all time that seems to help make sense of the winning streak the Edmonton Oilers are currently on. Michael Jordan said, “To win, you have to lose.” The Oilers did enough losing for a few seasons early on in 2023-24 when they went 2-9-1 out of the gate and were in 31st place in the NHL standings in early November. The season looked over when they lost 3-2 to the last-place San Jose Sharks on Nov. 9. But then something almost magical happened after the team sacrificed their coaches Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson, and the Oilers brought in Kris Knoblauch and Paul Coffey.
The team in the dressing room was so desperate to get out of the tailspin they were in, so out of ideas on their own that they started to listen to the coaches. Having Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm return to form from injury helped a lot, but it seemed like the Oilers matured in that first month of misery. Players such as Ryan McLeod, Warren Foegele, Vincent Deharnais, and Evan Bouchard upped their game. The Oilers started playing like a team rather than individuals, they committed to playing defence and learned from their early mistakes. Now halfway through the season, the Oilers are looking like the team everyone thought they were.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Plato definitely wasn’t thinking about hockey when he coined the phrase “necessity is the mother of invention.” But his quote did leave clues as to how you can overcome adversity and go on to success. Former Oilers defenceman and current analyst, Jason Strudwick, helped put the season into perspective when he appeared as a guest on TSN’s Overdrive on Jan. 17, the day after the Oilers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2. Strudwick told the TSN panel, “This group (Oilers) when you start the season like that, you’re so scared of feeling that way again, you’ll do whatever the coach asks you to do.” He added, “This group is now paying close attention to their defensive play.”
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Another former Oiler, the popular Georges Laraque, went on Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Jan. 19 and talked about how the coaching change made a difference for the Oilers. “When the former coach (Woodcroft) was there…all the players liked him. When the players like a coach too much…what happens is you’re content.” Laraque went on to say, “When you change coaches, you send a shock wave through the dressing room and all the guys are like – we have to pick it up.” This all goes back to the notion that the adversity the Oilers faced early on in the season has strengthened the group on the ice, it brought a certain level of maturity and discipline that has propelled the team forward. The main reason is the fear of slipping back to the place the Oilers were at the beginning of the season.
How Long Can the Oilers Winning Streak Go?
When the Oilers won their 12th straight game against the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 18, they tied the 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens for the longest winning streak by a Canadian team in the history of the NHL. That’s pretty good company. But you have to be certain that this current Oilers team isn’t resting on their laurels. They play the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome in Calgary on Jan. 20 and then host three games in a row before the All-Star Break. The Oilers play at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 23, the Chicago Blackhawks (without Connor Bedard) on Jan. 25 then the Nashville Predators in a matinee game on Saturday, Jan. 27. They are currently ahead of all four of these teams in the standings and could legitimately extend their winning streak. But as they say down on the farm in Oil Country, never count your chickens before they hatch.
The Fear of Losing More Powerful Than the Joy of Winning
Losing in life can either make you or break you. In the Oilers case, it looks like the players finally got the memo and decided as a group that they were sick and tired of losing and had to do something about it. They might have dug themselves out of the hole they were in under the guidance of Woodcroft and Manson, but having Knoblauch and Coffey at the controls might’ve created the perfect storm for the team to unleash the potential and the maturity so many people knew they had.
The unexpected twists and turns that the Oilers have taken in 2023-24 has been quite a ride for Oilers fans. You get the sense that this team matured and grew closer in just a few short months, and now seems focused and ready for the road ahead. As of Jan. 20, they have propelled themselves from second last place in the NHL to within six points of the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific Division with four games in hand. What a wild ride it’s been and this is only the first half of the season. If this team never forgets the pain of losing from early on in October and November, they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the second half of the 2023-24 season. Should be interesting.