Training camp has just begun and preseason begins this Sunday for the Edmonton Oilers. Excitement is at an all time high after the team was just one game away from winning the Stanley Cup. There’s been a lot of turnover on the forwards side of things as guys like Warren Foegele, Dylan Holloway, Ryan McLeod, among a few others will not return for this upcoming campaign. However, the Oilers did add more proven offensively players to their lineup.
Let’s dive into each player on the forward core and their expectations for the season.
Viktor Arvidsson
Viktor Arvidsson is slated to start the season on Leon Draisaitl’s wing along with Jeff Skinner. During his time in Los Angeles, he spent time with mostly Trevor Moore and Philip Danault. Arvidsson scored 15 points in 18 games last year and 60 points the year before that.
His career year was in 2018–19 where he had 34 goals in 58 games. He’s been an underrated player throughout his whole career. Barring a major injury, I can see Arvidsson scoring between 25 to 30 goals and 60 points next season for the Oilers.
Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown
While Connor Brown had a disastrous regular season, he showed an extra pop in his step come playoff time. He *finally* looks fully recovered from that nasty ACL injury.
Getting loads of PP time and hopefully carrying on the success he saw with Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark in the playoffs, Brown scoring 12 to 13 goals for 25 points while keeping the Oilers PK atop of the league seems pretty reasonable. You can make the same exact case for Mattias Janmark here, by the way.
Leon Draisaitl
With a new contract extension locked up and recovering from his injuries from the playoffs, Leon Draisaitl is set to enter his 11th season with the team. Draisaitl usually records 110 to 128 points per season, but this time we has two legit top-six wingers flanking him for the whole year and I highly doubt he has his power play struggles like he did at times last year. After *only* scoring 41 goals last year, I would expect to see a 55-goal and 130-point season from Drai once again.
James Hamblin or Lane Pederson
One of James Hamblin or Lane Pederson will more likely than not win the 4C spot to open the season. Hamblin has played for the club for a few games here and there over the last two seasons, while Pederson has been torturing the AHL. Whoever gets that spot, their expectation should be to provide a solid defensive presence and score eight to ten goals and 20 points.
Adam Henrique
Adam Henrique came to Edmonton and scored at a 20-goal pace during the regular season and looked somewhat decent during the playoffs. His expectation for this upcoming season is to provide some depth scoring as the de facto 3C. Anywhere from 15 to 20 goals and around 30 to 35 points points should be doable.
Zach Hyman
While I do not think Zach Hyman scores 50 goals again, he’s still going to have a massive influence on that top line and first PP unit. In Hyman’s first season, he scored 27 goals and 54 points. The next year he scored 36 goals for 83 points and of course last year, he scored 54 goals for 77 points.
Since McDavid’s oblique injury is fully healed now and will start shooting more, Hyman’s goal totals will go down but I think his assists will go out. Similar to the 2022–23 season, I think a year of 35 goals and 75 points is likely for Hyman.
Evander Kane
This is hard to predict since Evander Kane will be going on IR and as of right now there’s no timetable for his return. Mark this down as a N/A,
Connor McDavid
I mean what else is there to say here? The guy had 100 assists last year, set an NHL record for assists in the playoffs, won the Conn Smythe despite losing the cup and did all of this with an oblique injury that hampered his shooting and his game all of his last season. Now that McDavid is healthy, I guarantee you he’s scoring 55 to 60 goals and 95 to 100 assists this upcoming year. 160 points looks insane and hard, but if there’s one player to do it…. it’s McDavid.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
It was a weird year for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins last year. He was still really good defensively, actually had great success 5v5, but his PP points brought him down last year and only shot 9.8% which is way below his average. During the playoffs though, he collected 22 points in 25 games while still being a vital part of the PK. We should probably expect something similar this year. 20 to 25 goals, 70 points, PP1, and PK time for #93.
Derek Ryan and Corey Perry
Corey Perry and Derek Ryan at this point shouldn’t be everyday NHLers. Both these guys are near the age of 40 and are super, super slow on the ice. It’s fine to have one of them play in a game and a set rotation throughout the season should be the plan. My best guess is that both guys play anywhere from 40 to 50 games.
Ryan’s offensive game has severely declined so anywhere from five to seven goals and 12 points would be acceptable. Meanwhile, Perry’s still shown he can be productive in the league so maybe up that tick to 10 goals and 15 to 20 points for him.
Vasily Podkolzin
Vasily Podkolzin was brought in as the potential replacement to Dylan Holloway. As the former 10th overall pick in 2019, he hasn’t lived up to his draft pedigree and honestly, I don’t have any major expectations for Podkolzin. One would hope he just gives it his all and puts all his skills together to be an impactful player. I guess if he scores 10 goals and *maybe* outproduces Holloway, this would be considered a great season.
Jeff Skinner
I had a post out earlier this summer when the Jeff Skinner signing happened detailing if he’s a good fit or not for the franchise. I stand by the narrative that even without PP time, Skinner is going to hit 30 goals. He’s been one of the better 5v5 goal scorers in the league while never playing with a player like McDavid or Draisaitl. 30 goals and 30 assists. Book it.
Expectations are high for Edmonton
It’s going to be an exciting year for the Oilers faithful! This is one of their deepest forward cores in years. The next six months leading up to the postseason should be fun.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
