The Edmonton Oilers have just came off a convincing 6–3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Much has been made about the Oilers start to the season, however. They started 0–3 and the team looked old and slow. And while those issues are still somewhat persistent, they have a record of 14–7–2 since then, a 107 point pace.
Fans have began to wonder what the rest of this season holds for this team and seem to believe that compared to last year, they may be an early round exit, despite how bad they started last year. So the question is, how does Edmonton compare to the 26–game mark of the 2023–24 campaign? One would seem to believe that we’d have a better record by a long shot this year considering the 2–9–1 start. Well…
Comparison of records and special teams
Despite the awful 2–9–1 start that cost Jay Woodcroft his job, the Oilers had a record of 13–12–1, a total of 27 points. Right now they have a record of 14–10–2, a total of 30 points. Although they they were awful last year, they’re right around where they are today. Truly shocking. As mentioned above, the Oilers are 14–7–2 since that 0–3 start. They’ve been playing pretty well and yet still are in the range of last year.
What about special teams though? The Oilers penalty kill saw them clicking at a rate of 28.1% by Game 26. Their PK was ranked 15th with an average 80.4%. This season sees their power play at a shocking 18th place clipping at 19.4% and the PK at 27th with a 73%. It is worth noting that the PK has killed off 23/24 in their last 12 games. However, that’s a net difference of -16.1%, a major reason why they are where they are currently. The PP has been completely out of sync and doesn’t look like themselves, but there are signs of improvement so we’ll see if that continues.
Individual players are struggling
The biggest struggles in Edmonton right now are the lack of production outside Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard. Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have had their struggles too. So how does the team (the guys who started the 2023–24 season as Oilers) as a whole compare to last year?
| Player | Last Year | This Year |
| Connor McDavid | 24GP: 10-28-38 +7 | 23 GP: 12-23-35, +7 |
| Leon Draisaitl | 26 GP: 12-21-33. -3 | 26 GP: 19-15-34, +12 |
| Evan Bouchard | 26 GP: 8-22-30, -4 | 26 GP: 6-14-20, +5 |
| Zach Hyman | 25 GP: 16-12-28, 0 | 21 GP: 5-5-10, +3 |
| RNH | 26 GP: 6-19-25, +5 | 26 GP: 4-10-14, 0 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 25 GP: 4-6-10, +2 | 26 GP: 3-8-11, +6 |
| Darnell Nurse | 26 GP: 4-5-9, +5 | 23 GP: 3-7-10, +4 |
| Derek Ryan | 26 GP: 3-3-6, +1 | 24 GP: 0-2-2, -5 |
| Mattias Janmark | 16 GP: 1-4-5, -2 | 26 GP: 1-10-11, 0 |
| Brett Kulak | 26 GP: 1-2-3. -5 | 26 GP: 5-4-9, +2 |
| Connor Brown | 20 GP: 0-1-1, -8 | 26 GP: 3-5-8, 0 |
| Stu Skinner | 11-7-1, .890SV%, 2.92GAA | 8-7-2, .889SV% 2.97GAA |
| Cal Pickard | 1-1-0 .917SV%, 2.24 GAA | 6-3-0, .892SV%, 2.56 GAA |
As you can see, guys like McDavid and Draisaitl are pretty much doing what they’ve been doing throughout their careers. Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, and Evan Bouchard have come as expected while Mattias Janmark, Connor Brown, and Brett Kulak have actually been better. The biggest red flags of course have been Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Of course, the PP going cold doesn’t help their numbers at all, but even their 5v5 production has been lacklustre. This is something to keep an eye on as the season rolls on. Despite how awful Skinner has been, he’s practically at the same place where he stood last year.
Final Thoughts
It’s been an up and down start and all the stats reflect that for the Oilers. They haven’t been bad, they’ve been outworldly good… just meh, shown by the wingers’ productions and subpar special teams. We’ll see if the storylines we’ve seen thus far continue to happen. But compared to last year, the Oilers sit in a similar position but with a worse offence and worse special teams units.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
