It is officially the final week before the puck drops on the Edmonton Oilers’ 2023–24 regular season. After a long offseason, we are getting prepped for what is bound to be an exciting time for Oilers fans. Expectations are high from top to bottom as the team enters this season as favourites for the Stanley Cup. Will the roster live up to those expectations? Let’s take a look at each player over the next week and analyze what their season may look like.
Mattias Ekholm
The primary acquisition at last season’s trade deadline, Mattias Ekholm, came into the Oilers lineup and immediately had a major positive impact. He took on a huge role on Edmonton’s blueline, and alongside Evan Bouchard, formed part of what ended up being the team’s top defensive pairing for the playoff run.
With Ekholm in the lineup, the Oilers finished the regular season 18–2–1, outscoring the opposition 93–56. He helped Bouchard flourish at even strength by providing a solid defensive presence to balance out Bouchard’s offensive inclinations. And his addition helped take the pressure off of Darnell Nurse to be the team’s everything on defence.
Ekholm set high expectations for the upcoming season with his performance thus far with the Oilers. His numbers were good enough to make him look Norris–calibre through the end of last season, and Edmonton may need him to be that good once again to give the team a legitimate top four on defence.
It is unclear who his partner will be. So far, he has had plenty of success with Bouchard. It would make sense to keep that together. But with rumours that Nurse may spend time with Bouchard as well, Ekholm could find himself playing with Cody Ceci or Philip Broberg on a regular basis as well.
Whoever his partner ends up being, Ekholm’s style of play meshes well with the Oilers lineup and the opportunity to use his excellent breakout pass with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl on the ice bodes well for a bit of a breakout season offensively.
His current career high is 44 points. I would expect him to end up with around that with a full season in the Oilers’ lineup. Barring that the injury holding him out of most of the preseason games is not serious, of course.
Ekholm 2023–24 prediction: 10 goals, 40 assists, 50 points
Evan Bouchard
We saw glimpses of this through the end of last season, and especially in the playoffs, but Bouchard is now primed to have his breakout season. His game has been developing to a point where he can be on the ice for 20 minutes per game in most situations. His offence has started to come out as he gets more time with the Oilers’ superstars and is the quarterback for Edmonton’s (and the league’s) top power play unit. And this season will be his chance to prove he can handle it all.
Fresh off of his two-year bridge deal signed this offseason, Bouchard is going to need to step up his defensive game once again if he is to prove he is able to play top-pairing minutes. He has gotten better, but as an offence-first player still has some work to do in order to match up well against the best opponents in the league.
He played best with Ekholm last season, but has spent plenty of time with Nurse through the pre-season. Head Coach Jay Woodcroft hinted that the two of them may get time together through the regular season. Regardless, whoever Bouchard plays with will need to take on a defensive role to counter his style.
With the situation he is playing in for the upcoming season, Bouchard is destined to have an offensive explosion and far surpass his career highs.
Bouchard 2023–24 prediction: 20 goals, 45 assists, 65 points
Darnell Nurse
Last season was a bit tough for Nurse at times. His primary defensive partner, Ceci, struggled at times and it put more of a load on him to cover and do a little bit of everything while on the ice.
For the 2023–24 season, Nurse will be able to have some of the weight of carrying the Oilers’ defence lifted off his shoulders with the additional depth and development from other players. It will let him hone in more on one facet of the game instead of being relied on to do it all at the same time.
Depending who his playing partner is will determine what version of Nurse we get to see. If he finds himself with Bouchard, he will be looked at to be the physical, defensive defender focused more on letting the rest of the team do their offensive wizardry.
But if he spends time with a hopefully rejuvenated Ceci, Nurse will be able to use his talents at puck carrying to try and drive some offence, knowing he is covered defensively like what happened two seasons ago when these two formed a solid top pairing for Edmonton.
Nurse 2023–24 prediction: 10 goals, 30 assists, 40 points
Cody Ceci
The 2022–23 season was a rough one for Ceci, explained away by the news that he was dealing with a core injury that may have caused him to regress from his stellar showing in his first season with the Oilers the year prior.
For Ceci, it will be important for him to find his defensive game so that the team can rely on him to pull his weight on whichever pairing he finds himself on. Whichever of Nurse or Ekholm he plays with, the burden of having to help cover him will not lead to a successful pairing.
Ceci has never been much of an offensive contributor, so if he isn’t helping defensively, he starts to become more of a liability than anything. With an offseason off to reflect, recover, and train, he should come into the season ready to find the game that helped him succeed in 2021–22. Or, maybe he takes on a smaller role within the team’s defence as younger players surpass him on the depth charts.
Ceci 2023–24 prediction: 3 goals, 17 assists, 20 points
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
