Last year I wrote a piece on five hot takes I had for the 2023–24 season for the Oilers. Well… I didn’t do that great. I went 1/5. I nailed my Jack Campbell hot take and was oh, so close on my winning the cup prediction. Alas, it did not happen.
The other takes included one where we acquired Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins getting another PPG season and Connor Brown scoring 30 goals (yikes!!). This year I’m back with another five hot takes for the season and hopefully don’t go 20% again. Make sure to give me your thoughts below and any hot takes you might have for the current year!
Arvidsson and Skinner each score 30+ goals
Maybe not so much of a hot take as I referenced this in my players’ expectations post, but I truly believe both Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson hit the 30-goal plateau.
Skinner hit numerous 30- and 40-goal season throughout his career while never playing with a guy like Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl for long spurts of time. Arvidsson had a 30-goal season in Nashville and has hit 20 goals the last few season.
Even if they don’t get major power play time, they’ll still be sparingly used on the second power play unit and enough 5v5 time with the big boys to score enough goals.
Emberson becomes an effective shutdown fourth defenceman
Ty Emberson had a great rookie season for the San Jose Sharks last year. Suiting up in the top four on an AHL caliber team, Emberson was a huge net positive. He outshot, outchanced, and outscored the opposition over the course of his 30 games there and the potential is there to blossom on a better team in the same role.
I honestly believe he’ll handle himself quite well as the 2RHD before the upgrades at the deadline push him back to the third pair with Brett Kulak, which would easily be the best third pair in the game. My prediction is after a strong first three months, Edmonton signs him before his value quickly raises up to a modest $2M AAV on a three-year contract.
Edmonton will add Zub and Gourde at the deadline
It’s no secret that the Oilers still need to upgrade the right side of the blueline and add more depth to the middle of their lineup. People argue about a starter, but Stuart Skinner showed that average goaltending can get the Oilers far.
My very bold prediction, with the newly accrued cap space, is that the Oilers target Artem Zub, a legit top-four defenceman on Ottawa with many young defencemen, on a sweet deal, and Yanni Gourde, an expiring UFA but someone who’s been to three cup finals, winning two of them, and being an amazing two-way player during the course of his career. Both Seattle and Ottawa won’t make the playoffs and it’s about time the Oilers truly go all in. Imagine a lineup of:
Skinner-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Kane-Gourde-Savoie
Janmark-Henrique-Brown
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Zub
Kulak-Emberson
Come the playoffs???? No one is stopping that.
Bouchard wins the Norris Trophy
Evan Bouchard absolutely torched the league in the regular season and playoffs last year and yet he still doesn’t get the respect he deserves. I’m predicting a 95-point year for Bouchard at least. Is that too high and me being biased? I dont think so to be honest.
The additions of Skinner and Arvy means the Oilers will score more and he’ll likely be playing alongside of them a lot of the time. The power play is still strong and likely will be better due to McDavid being healthy and he was among the league leaders in posts hit last year.
Mark my words: he’s hitting 90 to 95 points and taking home the Norris.
McDavid goes 60-100-160
McDavid had a “down year” regular season wise for his standards. He and Nikita Kucherov racked up 100 assists becoming the first players to do it since Mario Lemieux. However, the goal scoring wasn’t there after having 64 the year before. He shot at 12.2% which is 3%(!!!!) below his career average at 15.2%. He also had 90 less shots than the year prior.
It’s quite clear that McDavid had a major injury, rumored to be his oblique, when the season started. Despite this, the playmaking was still out-worldly good as he broke Wayne Gretzky’s assist record in a playoff run. This year I think he’ll come back in full force. He’s fully healed and ready to get back to his old goal scoring ways, which will make him an even more dangerous player this year combined with his already improvement in the defensive end. He’s winning the Art Ross, Richard, Hart, and Ted Lindsay again.
Oh and by the way…. he’ll win the Conn Smythe for a second straight season and the 2025 Stanley Cup will be coming home to Edmonton!
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
