We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.
What are the Oilers most thankful for?
A team that looks to be deep enough to compete near the top.
The team may have two of the best players in the league (see below), but the biggest problem the team has dealt with over the past few years was their lack of top-six and even top-nine depth to assist those two players. However, while the the Oilers have always had Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, he has finally found a place next to Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto on the second line. That trio was dominant in the second half of the season once the line was put together.
Edmonton also added several veterans to the roster, adding James Neal a year ago, who showed he wasn’t done yet. They then added Tyler Ennis at the trade deadline and signed Kyle Turris this offseason, giving the team quite a bit of veteran depth to fill in gaps in the middle six.
Perhaps the most interesting player to keep an eye on will be former top prospect Jesse Puljujarvi, who finally returned to Edmonton after playing last year in the Liiga after he left the team due to his lack of playing time. The fourth-overall pick from the 2016 draft hasn’t panned out yet, but is only 22 years old and returns to the NHL with plenty of confidence after being one of the top scorers in Finland’s top pro league.
Who are the Oilers most thankful for?
Two Hart Trophy winners in Connor McDavid and now Draisaitl.
Few teams can boast they have one Hart Trophy winner, let alone two and both McDavid and Draisaitl are still so young that they can still get better. McDavid had put together three straight 100-point seasons and would have done that last year (he had 97 points), but the pandemic stopped that streak. Nevertheless, he is one of the best, if not the best player in the NHL.
Now Draisaitl, who dominated in 2018-19 with a 50-goal, 105-point season, posted another impressive year, scoring 45 and leading the league with 110 points in just 71 games. The two finally were split onto separate lines on even strength, but still dominated together on the power play, giving the team the top-ranked power play in the league by a whopping 29.5 percent, more than four percent better than the second place power play team.
Those two players only make it easier for general manager Ken Holland to build a solid team around sooner than later.
What would the Oilers be even more thankful for?
A return to form of Tyson Barrie.
With an injury to Oscar Klefbom that could keep him out for the entirety of the 2020-21 season, Holland went out and inked Barrie to a one-year deal after the once highly-touted blueliner suffered through a disastrous season with the Toronto Maple Leafs a year ago. Toronto brought in Barrie via trade in hopes of shoring up their deficient defense, but the offensive-minded defenseman never fit into the Maple Leafs’ system and even saw his offensive numbers drop like a stone. Barrie was coming off two straight 14-goal, 50+ point seasons in Colorado, but managed just five goals and 39 points.
However, in Edmonton with a prove-it deal in hand (as well as no Klefbom to take away power play minutes), Barrie should get every opportunity to find his game and return his status as a top offensive defenseman.
What should be on the Oilers holiday wish list?
A goalie upgrade.
If there is one area of weakness in Edmonton, it’s in net. The team is hamstrung under Mikko Koskinen, who is being paid as a starter, but is a tandem goalie at best. The team had hoped to pry Jacob Markstrom away from Vancouver in free agency, but were outbid by the Calgary Flames. Instead of grabbing at another free-agent, the team opted to sign Mike Smith to another one-year deal. However, the team might be better off searching the trade market at some point and fixing that goaltending situation later in the season, depending on the team’s success this year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
A top 15 goalie, 1 decent D and another top 9 forward and they’re probably the best in the west but their depth and lack of goaltending could kill them for years
^ This is asking a lot. A top 15 goalie costs $5+ million. 1 decent D is $4million, and a top 9 forward lets say is $3mil (that’s generous).
Can’t go doing that when you load up at forward. Gotta give something to get something. Where’s the $12million coming from?
Can’t have it all.
I won’t ever be sold on Barrie until he shows me about three consecutive years of actual, solid play, not revisionist history junk that some media types lather him with. He doesn’t have the history of anything remotely resembling reliable defense, and too much of his point totals are mostly empty calories. In a shortened season, he’s likely to press too much, which will give the rest of the team massive headaches. Netminding may end up being either feast or famine; I can’t see just mediocre. When the two of them are working together as an effective tandem, they can be pretty decent. That said, without Klefbom, there is the potential for very shaky D-play, which will further burden the forward group and the goalies. The forwards absolutely must improve their play in their own end, else it could get pretty ugly. I wouldn’t pick them to win the Canadian division, but if everything clicks, maybe the two or three seed might be possible.
This article has left out Dominik Kahun who Draisaitl wanted on the team during Chiarelli’s time and Holland was wise enough to bring in.