OILERS WORK IN PROGRESS
It's too early to panic
The Edmonton Oilers are three games into the season and two of them were not very good.
So, people are concerned, which is not uncommon in a market where the home team has missed the playoffs so many times there should be a “Wait 'til next year” banner hanging from the rafters of Rogers Place.
It's way too early to tell if the current distress is warranted, but it is certainly understandable when some of the same nagging problems that dragged the Oilers down the last several years showed up again in a 5-3 loss to Vancouver and a 5-1 loss to Montreal.
Opposition forwards left wide open in front of the net. Goaltending that is just OK. Third and fourth lines that have yet to make much of an impact. A top-six that looks more like a top-three-and-a-half. Superstars running hot and cold.
Some of this is a little unnerving, but you can't make an intelligent assessment after three games in four days. Even if the Oilers were 3-0 and firing on all cylinders, the correct position to take would still be wait and see.
Here are a few things we're waiting to see:
DEPTH PERCEPTION
In the 5-3 season-opening loss to Vancouver, Connor Mcdavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-hopkins combined for one assist.
In the 5-2 rematch win over Vancouver, they combined for five goals and six assists. And in the 5-1 loss to Montreal, they combined for one assist.
Not sure if you can spot the early trend, but the balance and depth management the team was hoping to see from the new additions isn't quite there yet.
Just because we haven't seen it in the first three games of the season doesn't mean it's not coming — these things take time — but it has to come.
As thrilling as it is to see No.
97, No. 29 and No. 93 have an explosive night and lead the Oilers to victory, the time to get really excited will be when the Big Three are just average, while Edmonton's unsung heroes take turns rising up and winning games.
IT'S A MARATHON
Can coach Dave Tippett find a way to keep his top players fresh?
The season has been described as a sprint, but it really isn't. It's going to be an incredibly difficult grind that will push everyone, especially heavy-minutes players, to the limit. In a format where you can hang an eightpoint swing on the team ahead of you in just over 24 hours, quick starts aren't as vital as some people think.
Instead, it's going to be about consistency over a 115-day battle of attrition, with fatigue, injuries and COVID -19 exposure playing a huge role in where teams finish.
As tempting as it is to tap a couple of Hart Trophy winners on the shoulder every second shift, taking a whip to your lead horses in a compressed schedule against tough division rivals is bound to catch up. Fatigue was already being listed as a problem after losing to Montreal in the third game of the season.
Staying fresh and healthy is paramount this year.
Being able to roll his lines would certainly help with that.
But unless Item 1 remedies itself, Item 2 is going to be a problem.
QUESTION PERIOD
The Oilers look deeper on
paper and believe they are better than the team that went 37-25-9 last year, but in order to make good on that, the answers to most of the following questions need to be “yes.”
Can Ethan Bear and Caleb Jones withstand the nightly pressure that comes with being top-four defenceman in the NHL? Can Tyson Barrie really fill most of Oscar Klefbom's skates? Is this team willing to compete hard enough, game in and game out? Can it take the necessary steps defensively? After not being able to address his goaltending concerns in the off-season, can general manager Ken Holland now do it on the fly?
With eight games in the next 16 days, we won't have to wait long for the answers.
NOW OR NEVER
A goaltending situation that was shaky before the season even began had one of its legs cut out from under it two games in when Mike Smith went down. That's not good.
And no amount of waiver-wire scrambling is going to fix the problem.
The Oilers need some heroics from Mikko Koskinen and they need them now. Like it or not, he's going to be a workhorse they're counting on every bit as much as they are counting on the offensive superstars and sophomore defencemen.
Having said that, it's not easy being an Oilers goalie. The last guy to come in here and really lock down the position was Cam Talbot, and that was the one and only time Edmonton made the playoffs in the last 14 years.
The Oilers are going to have to make good on their training camp vow to shore up the team defence. They need to help Koskinen and he needs to help them. Otherwise, before we know it, it will be time to worry.
Fatigue was already being listed as a problem after losing to Montreal in the third game.