Hands up to those of you who, back in November, saw the 2-9-1 Edmonton Oilers clinching a playoff spot with seven games to go. Anybody? Bueller? Bueller? You may have made this kind of prediction at the beginning of the 2023-24 season when people like ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski were prognosticating that the Oilers would make the Stanley Cup Final.
Related: NHL Insiders Predicting Big Things For Oilers in 23-24
All the favorable predictions for the Oilers looked good before the puck dropped on the 2023-24 season, and then the actual games got started. And oh boy, what a difference. It’s funny how a team can look good on paper, but when you start playing the games, things tend to take on a life of their own.
Oilers Couldn’t Have Started the 2023-24 NHL Season Any Worse
Back on the opening night of the 23-24 NHL Season, Jack Campbell was preparing for his redemption season as he got the start for the Oilers in Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 11. It didn’t take long for dreams in Oil Country to get dashed as the Canucks handed the Oilers their lunch in an 8-1 drubbing at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Things, of course, didn’t get too much better from there as the Oilers got off to a horrendous 2-9-1 start, which led to the firing of Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft and Assistant Coach Dave Manson and the hiring of new head coach Kris Knoblauch and assistant coach Paul Coffey on Nov. 12.
The Oilers’ first month of the 23-24 NHL season might have been one of the worst months in franchise history. It was not all Woodcroft’s fault, either, as both Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm were battling early-season injuries. In fact, I credit a healthy McDavid with helping to turn the tide and the season around. That’s why I think he should be in the mix to win the Hart Trophy.
Under Head Coach Knoblauch the Oilers Are 43-15-4
In literally one of the greatest turnarounds in Oilers history, the team under Knoblauch has catapulted itself not only in contention but back into the conversation of being one of the teams to beat for the Stanley Cup. They rode a 16-game winning streak close to the mid-way point of the season and climbed over teams to now sit comfortably in second place in the Pacific Division. They are still within striking of the first-place Canucks with seven games.
Back when things were looking their darkest, many fans were just hoping the team could scrape together some wins under Knoblauch to sneak into a Wild Card spot on the final date of the regular season. But the team has definitely surpassed that expectation and more. Knoblauch and Coffey have the Oilers playing inspired hockey, and with the exception of recent losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs (6-3 on March 23) and a bad 5-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on April 3, the Oilers have been pretty consistent.
Now That the Oilers Are In the Playoffs, What Should We Expect?
The Oilers are going to want to continue to tighten up defensively and hopefully bring up some of their young talent from the Bakersfield Condors to get in some NHL action before the postseason begins. I’m hoping that forwards Dylan Holloway, Raphael Lavoie, and defenceman Philip Broberg get in some games, and I’d love to see goaltender Olivier Rodrigue get one or two starts. It’s going to be tough to pull McDavid from the lineup as he’s currently in the thick of the NHL scoring race with Tampa Bay Lightnings Nikita Kucherov and Colorado Avalanche Forward Nate MacKinnon.
The Oilers also play five games in seven nights to close out the 2023-24 NHL regular season. That stretch might be the opportune time to bring in some help from Bakersfield and rest some of the veterans, especially if the Oilers are comfortably in a position to have home-ice advantage for at least one series in the playoffs.
The crazy part of all of this…is there’s no way anyone could’ve predicted this is how the Oilers season would go. Many felt back in October and November that the season was dead, but here we are in April with the Oilers looking like they might have a chance to do big things this spring. Is truth stranger than fiction? In the case of the Edmonton Oilers 2023-24 regular season, the answer is a resounding YES. The story only gets better if the Oilers win more games than they lose in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Then you’ve really got something.
