There was no hiding the fact that the Edmonton Oilers had an atrocious penalty kill to start the 2024–25 season. Not only was the penalty kill horrendous, the team was not performing well enough in any area to really cover it. After 14 games, it was easily bottom of the league at 59.5% and one of the worst in NHL history at that point.
Through the first 15 games of the season, the Oilers gave up a power play goal in all but three games and multiple goals in three of the first four games of the season. After their 15th game, Edmonton had given up a power play goal in six straight games and the penalty kill was a disastrous 58.9%.
But something changed at that very moment. Since the start of their sixteenth game, Edmonton has only given up two power play goals. They’ve killed off 24 of the 26 penalties they’ve taken, a much improved 92.3% efficiency rate. This includes a stretch starting in that 16th game where they did not give up a power play goal in eight straight games until the Colorado Avalanche scored one in the ninth game.
Since November 12, the Oilers have had the best penalty kill in the league by a substantial margin. They have been five percent better than second place Boston and Buffalo, who both have an 87.1% penalty kill.
Something has changed for the better, and quite suddenly too, it appears. Is there any clear answer?
Personnel change
One of the most obvious differences appears to be a change in personnel. Through the first 15 games of the season, the top six penalty killers by ice time according to Natural Stat Trick were:
| Player | Total ice time on the penalty kill |
| Mattias Ekholm | 34:34 |
| Darnell Nurse | 29:21 |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 24:00 |
| Brett Kulak | 23:52 |
| Adam Henrique | 23:13 |
| Connor Brown | 18:55 |
The ice time split indicates the top unit would have been Henrique and Nugent-Hopkins with Ekholm and Nurse on the back end. These seem to be the lines that would have been good “on paper,” with Nurse taking on big minutes in these situations in the past, Ekholm being the best all-around defender, Nugent-Hopkins generally being seen as the best all-around forward on the roster, and Henrique being brought to Edmonton partly because of his penalty kill utilization elsewhere.
But that took a drastic shift, most noticeably on defence, when looking at the ice time breakdown of the same top six since November 12.
| Player | Total ice time on the penalty kill |
| Ty Emberson | 24:46 |
| Mattias Ekholm | 22:37 |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 22:16 |
| Adam Henrique | 19:36 |
| Brett Kulak | 15:28 |
| Mattias Janmark | 13:57 |
As he has settled in with the team and grown comfortable within the system, Emberson has taken on a more important role with the team. He has basically become the top penalty-killing defender, in place of Nurse (who has dropped down to fourth in total ice time during that span of games, partly due to his injury). His playstyle, seen as steady and low-event, works fantastically on the penalty kill as he can shut down the opposition with ease.
Although it may not be reflected in the ice time breakdown, they have broken up Janmark and Brown on the penalty kill for the most part, and to start games at least, they have been on separate units. As both of these players are typically speedy wingers, it helps spread out that player type amongst the penalty kill units to balance out, for example, the slower Henrique.
It seems that even this simple personnel swap has been a catalyst for the team’s much improved penalty kill.
The PDO beast strikes again
The Oilers and a PDO-related conundrum to start the season, name a better duo.
Once again, the Oilers opened a season with a miserable PDO, down at the bottom of the league. It encapsulated their league-low shooting percentage and save percentage.
Sure enough, that trend was reflected in the penalty kill through the first 15 team games. Edmonton was bottom of the league with a 0.686 PDO on the penalty kill. The second worst were the St. Louis Blues and Utah with an .831 PDO. Of note in the compilation of this stat is that they had zero shorthanded goals, meaning the team was getting a 68.6% save percentage on the penalty kill. Also the worst in the league by just over six percent.
The .145 gap between Edmonton and St. Louis in PDO was the same as the gap between 31st place St. Louis and 11th place Minnesota. That’s how bad/unlucky the Oilers penalty kill was performing as a whole.
Reflecting the worst to first change starting on November 12 is the turnaround in PDO. Suddenly, the Oilers have the second-highest PDO in the league on the penalty kill since that date, sitting at 1.076. This is second to only the Pittsburgh Penguins. Additionally, their save percentage has jumped up to the second-highest in the league over that span. Now getting a 90.9 SV%, only behind the Montreal Canadiens, it is indicative of a turnaround in net as well as an improvement in how the defenders are playing and what types of chances they are giving up.
Although it is clear that the defence was not creating problems, since they gave up the least high danger chances in the league in both time spans, the goalies have been significantly better, making more of the saves that they need to be making, and the defensive system may be adjusting to cover the weaknesses of the goalies.
Whatever the team is doing on the penalty kill is working. One of the biggest contributors to team success through the playoff run last season was the absolutely dominant penalty kill that only gave up four goals in 25 playoff games. The Oilers need their special teams to continue to be this good if they want to live up to the lofty expectations placed on them heading into this season.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
