Right now, the most common word associated with the Edmonton Oilers’ 2023–24 season is “disaster”. A team that came in with a “cup or bust” mentality and was considered a Stanley Cup favourite instead is third last in the league just over a month into the season.
Assuming the season continues as it started (although every single fan is hoping for a 2019 St. Louis Blues turnaround), where would it rank amongst other “disastrous” seasons in NHL history? Perhaps Oilers fans shouldn’t feel too bad once they know they are not alone in this feeling?
We will look at teams that failed to make the post season only, as right now I think Oilers fans would probably take just a playoff appearance for this season to be considered salvaged.
We can also take a look at how the teams did the following season, to see if that can provide some hope for the future at least.
2017–2018 Edmonton Oilers
Coming off a second round loss to the Anaheim Ducks (mired with controversy), the Oilers looked to be poised to take the next step to Stanley Cup contender following Connor McDavid’s first 100-point season and Leon Draisaitl’s 16 points in 13 playoff games that earned him an eight-year, $68M extension.
Before anyone tries to retcon history, yes, the Oilers were in fact looked at as a serious contender by the media.
Instead, the Oilers appeared to crumble under these expectations (sound familiar?) and finished third last in the Pacific Division with a 36–40–6 record, with McDavid maybe being the only player who did not disappoint.
Unfortunately, the next season wasn’t better, as the Oilers finished second last in the division with a 35–38–9 record. But at least McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Darnell Nurse recorded (then) career highs.
Ok yeah, starting the list off with this one probably wasn’t a great idea.
2022–23 Calgary Flames
Alright, how about looking at the Oilers’ biggest rival to help feel a bit better?
These Calgary Flames came off a season where they finished first in the Pacific and looked to be a serious contender in the playoffs, only to be beat by the Oilers in five games in what may have been one of the most entertaining playoff series in recent history.
That loss seemed to begin a cascade of potential disaster, as the team’s two top scorers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, both ended up wanting out. Gaudreau left as an unrestricted free agent, meaning the team got nothing for losing their best player.
But then, GM Brad Treliving seemed to pull a rabbit out of his hat by trading Matthew Tkachuk for Jonathan Huberdeau, a player who had the same 115 points as Gaudreau and led the President’s Trophy winner Florida Panthers, and Mackenzie Weegar, who scored 44 points in a top-four role for the team, along with prospect Cole Schwindt and a conditional first-round pick.
The team also signed Nazem Kadri, who was coming off a career high 87 points in just 71 games with the Colorado Avalanche, and a further 15 points in 16 games on the way to a Stanley Cup.
The trade and Kadri signing were viewed as an amazing save from a bad situation, and one that would likely keep the Flames competitive, with media members debating whether the Flames or Oilers would win the Pacific that season.
Instead, the Flames stumbled to a 38–27–17 record, missing the playoffs by two points. The bigger story was Huberdeeau only putting up 55 points, setting the NHL record for biggest point drop in NHL history—although, if McDavid keeps up his point-per-game pace of “only” 1.00, then he will shatter that record with a point drop off 73.
Granted, barely missing the playoffs maybe shouldn’t be considered “disastrous”, but given the expectations along with seeing the Oilers tie for second in the Western Conference probably wasn’t pleasant for Flames fans.
Obviously the season after is this current one with still a ways to go, but currently the Flames are right in the thick of the wild card race. Given the expectations this year are much lower than last, it doesn’t seem too bad right now.
But I guess that means less solace for Oilers fans, as we all know how insufferable Flames fans will be if they make the playoffs this year and the Oilers don’t.
2013–2014 Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals came into the 2013–14 season with five straight playoff appearances, with four of those being seasons they won the Southeast Division title.
However, the playoff success wasn’t quite there, as they never got further than second round.
Concerns in 2011–12 regarding the Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin’s downfall, the latter scoring only 65 points in 78 games and the team finishing seventh in the Eastern Conference, although the team did advance to the second round.
The beginning of 2012–13 seemed to show the demise was going to continue, but a mid-season coaching change seemed to spark the team, and Ovechkin in particular, as he posted 24 goals in the final 29 games to lead the Capitals back to first in the division.
While the Capitals weren’t entering the 2013–14 season with Stanley Cup expectations, they were still expected to at least maintain their status quo.
Instead, the Capitals finished fifth in the newly formed Metropolitan Division and outside the playoffs by three points, furthering doubts about the team’s ability to get it done by Ovechkin’s nineth season in the league.
The season after the Capitals hired Barry Trotz, and finished second in the Metro Division, ultimately losing in the second round. However, the Capitals would proceed to finish first in the Metro Division for the next five seasons, including a Stanley Cup in 2017–2018, which happened to be Ovechkin’s 13th season.
Guess when McDavid’s 13th season is? 2027–2028, exactly a decade after Ovechkin’s. This is also McDavid’s ninth season, where the team will seemingly miss the playoffs.
I’m not saying this is anything more than a coincidence, but I’m not not saying it either.
2014–2015 San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks during the Joe Thornton era are most remembered as being a very good regular season team that could never get the job done come playoff time, including the 2013–2014 season where they blew a 3–0 lead in the first round to California rival Los Angeles Kings; although at least that team went on to win the Stanley Cup.
While the previous season increased the doubts on the Sharks’ ability to be anything other than a regular season performer, the expectation was that they would still be at least that.
Instead, the Sharks ended up missing the playoffs for the first time since acquiring Thornton and finishing third last in the Western Conference. (We won’t talk about who finished second last by a distant 27 points behind them though.)
Thornton and Patrick Marleau were starting to look their age, with 65 and 57 points respectively, and it looked like it would be time to pass the torch to Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture. Coach Todd McLellan and the Sharks also “mutually parted ways” after the season, with McLellan going to join some up and coming team with a generational talent who everyone expected would definitely win a Stanley Cup on his ELC a la previous first overall picks Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Patrick Kane, and Jonathan Toews. *cue sobbing and shaking fists at Peter Chiarelli*
Instead of falling further and potentially initiating a rebuild, the Sharks not only made the playoffs again the following season, but made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
So perhaps having a bad season can provide a spark for the next one leading to a playoff run? Hopefully?
2019–2020 San Jose Sharks
It’s never good when your team appears in this list twice for seasons only five years apart. *quickly does the math and breathes a sigh of relief that it’s been six seasons since 2017–18*
After the aforementioned Shark Stanley Cup Final run, they proceeded to make the playoffs the next three seasons, losing in the first, then second, and then third round. Therefore, the pattern clearly meant they would make the finals in 2019–20, and so the question was how they could turn that sure-fire appearance into a long-awaited Stanley Cup victory.
After a successful first season with the Sharks, where he scored 45 points in 53 games and a further 16 points in 19 playoff games, Erik Karlsson signed a massive eight-year, $92M contract to stay with the Sharks. Given the cost that the Sharks paid in a trade for Karlsson, this was definitely good news to ensure they go their value from the deal.
The Sharks also had another Norris winner in Brent Burns, who just led the team in scoring the previous year with 83 points in 82 games.
Up front, the Sharks had 22-year-old Timo Meier and 25-year-old Tomas Hertl coming off breakout seasons of 66 and 74 points respectively, a new captain in Logan Couture who led the team in playoff scoring, a renewed Evander Kane and Kevin Labanc taking a ridiculously team friendly one-year, $1M deal after a career high 56 points.
Expectations were high with this group looking to finally get that elusive cup in what could possibly be Thornton and Marleau’s last tour.
In what did end up being Thornton’s last season as a Shark (and Marleau’s second last), the exact opposite of those expectations occurred. The Sharks finished third last in the league with 63 points, and it looked like it was finally time to realize that the Cup window had closed.
Luckily, finishing so low meant a nice high draft pick that the Sharks could get a great blue chip prospect to help speed things along right?
Erm…remember the “great value” they got in the Karlsson trade? Yeah, turns out they ended up giving up the third overall pick in 2020, who the Senators used to pick Tim Stutzle.
So what can Oilers fans learn from this? Well just be thankful that apparently this year’s first-round pick is off the table for any trades and any time you feel sad about this season go ahead and fire up some Macklin Celebrini highlights while you whisper “just one more first overall pick and we are ready” like it’s 2015 all over again.
2014–2015 Los Angeles Kings
As we saw in the Sharks entry above, the Los Angeles Kings captured their second Stanley Cup in three years in 2013–14.
The Kings maintained their core group of players, including locking up deadline acquisition Marian Gaborik, and looked poised to make another Stanley Cup run.
Instead, the Kings finished fourth in the Pacific Division, missing the playoffs by two points.
Barely missing the playoffs may not seem like a “disastrous” season, but when you are not only the defending champs, have won two of the past three cups, and run back basically the same team…that’s pretty disappointing, to say the least. At least the Oilers don’t have that shame if they miss the playoffs this year.
2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers
Entering the 2006–07 season, the Philadelphia Flyers had made the playoffs 11 straight seasons and showed no signs of that changing.
The team included proven veteran scorers in Simon Gagne, Peter Forsberg, and Mike Knuble, along with up and coming youngsters Joni Pitkanen, Mike Richards, and Jeff Carter.
Instead, a brutal 1–6–1 start led to the firing of Head Coach Ken Hitchcock and the promotion of assistant coach John Stevens to head coach.
The change didn’t change the team’s fortunes, however, as the Flyers went on to finish dead last in the league.
To add further insult to injury, the team ended up losing the lottery to the Chicago Blackhawks, causing them to miss out on Patrick Kane.
The season after the Flyers would get back to form, making it all the way to the Eastern Conference final, and then the Stanley Cup Final two years later.
Therefore, Oilers fans can take solace that sometimes a good team just collapses but can bounce back.
2010–11 New Jersey Devils
Similar to the Flyers above, the New Jersey Devils entered 2010–11 with a playoff streak of 13 seasons, which included two Stanley Cups.
The previous season the Devils finished first in the Atlantic Division and won the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes at the trade deadline.
Unfortunately, the team faltered in the playoffs, losing in the first round.
The Devils managed to re-sign Kovalchuk in the off-season (twice) and had expectations to not just make the playoffs but get past the first round for the first time in four seasons.
Instead, the Devils finished with their first sub 0.500 season in 20 years, finishing 11th in the Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs.
However, the following season the Devils seemed to have learned their lesson en route to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Let’s not worry about the next five seasons after that though.
2016–17 Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning looked to be a team on the verge of success, coming off three straight playoff appearances including making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014–15 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2015–16.
The drama of whether captain Steven Stamkos would leave in free agency was put to rest two prior to him hitting the market, when he re-signed an eight-year, $68M contract to stay in Tampa.
Further, much maligned top pick Jonathan Drouin seemed to have finally put it all together after posting 14 points in 17 playoff games and Victor Hedman just came off a Norris Trophy nomination.
The Lightning didn’t seem to have any glaring weaknesses, and boasted an impressive goaltending tandem of Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Surprisingly, the Lightning instead missed the playoffs, likely not in small part from Stamkos missing all but 17 games due to injuries.
There were some positives however. Nikita Kucherov finished fifth in the league with 85 points, Victor Hedman was second in defensive scoring with 72 points, and Andrei Vasilevskiy started 50 games with a 0.917 save percentage.
Those positives were indeed good omens for the future, as the Lightning qualified for the playoffs again the next season and making it to the Conference Finals.
The season after that may have been a hell of a rollercoaster, but then the Lightning won two straight Cups and made it to the Finals the year after, so again, maybe a speed bump can be just the remedy a team needs to make the next step.
2021–22 Vegas Golden Knights
During the 2020–21 shortened NHL season, the Vegas Golden Knights finished tied for first in the league, losing a tiebreaker to the Avalanche for the President’s Trophy despite actually having won the most games that season (thank you loser point). They followed it up to the third round of the playoffs, losing to the Cinderella Montreal Canadiens.
So heading into the 2021–22 season the expectations were that the Knights would continue to be a powerhouse in the Western Conference, and a potential Stanley Cup threat.
Instead, the Knights missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, with new starter Robin Lehner appearing to stumble and eventually suffer a season ending injury, leaving the net to rookie Logan Thompson. Captain Mark Stone also suffered an injury-plagued season, only managing to appear in 37 games, and the big splash addition of Jack Eichel (he himself coming off an injury) did not appear as fruitful, as he managed only 25 points in 34 games.
The next season though?
Oh, just finished first in the West and won the Stanley Cup. Eichel led the team with 66 points in 67 games and a further 26 points in 22 playoff games. Their top two goalies finished with identical 0.915 save percentages, and when Thompson went down with injury Adin Hill stepped in and played out of his mind to lead them to the Cup.
This is absolute proof that the Oilers will win the Stanley Cup next year. No flaw in the logic whatsoever, go ahead an plan the parade guys.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
One Comment