From the late 2000s to the mid 2010s, the Edmonton Oilers were agonizingly bad. They missed the playoffs for 11 consecutive years. As a result, they were able to build their future through the NHL draft. This included nine selections within the top 10 of the draft between 2007 and 2016. The Oilers had the top pick four times during that span, snagging Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, and their current captain, Connor McDavid.
During the Connor McDavid era in Edmonton, McDavid has been widely considered the best hockey player in the world. I’d take it a step further and say he’s the most dominant athlete since prime Tiger Woods. This is not necessarily in the aspect of championships or accolades, but based purely on athletic ability. As a result of the dominance of Connor McDavid and the fact that he’s developed a one-two punch with another former top-three pick in Leon Draisaitl, it seemed inevitable that McDavid would lead Edmonton to the promised land.
Goalies getting the blame
However, here we are in year 10 of McDavid and still no cups for the Oilers. They’ve been knocking on the door for a number of years now. They’ve lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion four years in a row, including back-to-back trips to the Cup Final. The Oilers can never seem to get it done, and the narrative has always been it’s because of their goaltending.
Stuart Skinner was the scapegoat for the Oilers with shaky stats in the playoffs the last three years. Earlier this season, Skinner was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Tristan Jarry, who ironically isn’t much better. Jarry started Game 4, but began the series as the backup.
It hasn’t just been this season
Throughout the McDavid era, the narrative has been that the Oilers lack good goaltending. Many fans believe that if they had it, there would be another banner in Rogers Place. The best playoff number the Oilers have gotten, goaltending-wise, was from Cam Talbot in 2017. He posted a 2.48 GAA and a .924 save percentage in 13 games. The Oilers lost in the second round to the Anaheim Ducks in seven games that year.
The Oilers have gone from Talbot to Mike Smith to Skinner to Ingram in the playoffs. Even with their high-powered offence, the result stays the same—the Oilers are yet to get over the hump and win a championship.
This tells me one thing: goaltending is not the problem for the Oilers. Some of you may think that’s crazy, or I’m an old man yelling at clouds with that take, but I think it’s true. My argument is that the Oilers could have an Igor Shesterkin or an Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, and I don’t think the results would change too much.
The Oilers had 282 goals for and 269 goals against this season. This is an average of 3.34 goals per game and 3.28 goals against per game. In years past, that has also been a problem. You may remember that in 2022, McDavid seemed to call out goalie Mike Smith.
2022 Western Conference Final Game 1 versus Colorado: Smith was pulled after allowing six goals on 25 shots. McDavid noted after the 8–6 loss that the team had “a lot of stuff that was self-inflicted” to clean up, but he didn’t name Smith specifically. He also said during that run that the Oilers were “scoring enough goals to win games,” which the public and the media painted as a goaltending callout. While the goaltending tends to be at fault for the Oilers in the eyes of the fans, I don’t think that’s the truth.
Sure, Connor Ingram hasn’t been his best by any stretch of the imagination. Ingram gave up more than two goals just once in his final seven games of the regular season. Sure, if he continues to be shaky as this series goes on, you could go to Tristan Jarry for a couple of games similar to last year. Jarry played in Game 4, and the Oilers lost in overtime after having multiple leads. Jarry put them in a position to win, and they couldn’t get it done.
Defensive structure issues
In my mind, the Oilers play like a beer league team, which works sometimes when you have two of the best players in the world on your team who can both score goals at an insane rate. The Oilers have the luxury of a high-powered offence and can outscore teams.
For the last few years, the Oilers’ defensive structure has been a topic of discussion. Causing some concern throughout the regular season, that concern has carried over into the playoffs. Through four games against Anaheim, the Oilers have given up 20 goals. Five goals against per game in the playoffs isn’t a recipe for success. It’s also a big reason why the Oilers are in the position they’re in.
In this series, during the first period of Game 1, the Oilers were playing great on both sides of the ice. A lot of people, myself included, thought the Ducks were in big trouble. Then, the second period happened, and it was almost like the Oilers forgot how to defend. Other than that period, I’d argue Anaheim has been far and away the better team.
It’s not like this is a new problem; it’s been a problem all season long, and I’d argue it’s been a problem for longer than just this season. In their own zone, the Oilers create problems for themselves. They get out of position, have bad turnovers at times, get into poor spots on the ice, and have guys blowing the zone, which leads to them getting scored on a lot. Against a team like Anaheim and the offensive ability they have, they are taking full advantage of the Oilers mistakes, and it’s paying dividends for the Ducks.
Other than the first period of Game 1, it can be argued that the Ducks have by far been the better team in the series. Part of that is the fact that Connor McDavid is showing he’s human and has been held off the scoresheet in all four games. In fairness, McDavid seems to be playing with an injury, and he’s clearly not at 100 percent. However, hockey is a team sport, and it doesn’t all fall on one player. The other part is that the Oilers are atrocious defensively.
The Oilers have proven their offensive firepower is enough to keep them in games. At times this season, they’ve also proven they’re a good defensive team. However, at times, the Oilers forget how to play defence. Everyone knows the saying “defence wins championships,” and as cliché as it sounds, it’s true. The way the Oilers are playing defensively right now makes it very difficult, borderline impossible, to think they’re cup contenders.
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