Remember the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022 when the Edmonton Oilers broke the will of goaltender Jacob Markstrom and the Calgary Flames? The Flames had taken a one game lead in the series and the Oilers stormed back to win the next four in a row to move on to face the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Western Conference Final. The Flames were never the same after that series. The Oilers seemed to rattle Markstrom, and soon after the wheels fell off when Flames superstars Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk both left Calgary. Are we witnessing something similar with the Oilers after Vegas dispatched Edmonton in six games, despite the Oilers holding a lead in both Game 5 and Game 6 of their second round playoff series last spring?
Breaking the Will of Players & Teams Can Happen
It’s really difficult for the Oilers to find answers after one of the worst starts to a season in their history in 2023-24. This is a team loaded with talent from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. A team that has shown so much promise over the past two seasons, losing in playoff series to eventual Stanley Cup winners, Vegas in 2023 and Colorado in 2022, was supposed to be “all-in” this season. 2023-24 was supposed to be the Oilers’ season to skate off with the Stanley Cup at season’s end. But that was all talk. The Oilers currently sit one place from the bottom of the NHL standings with a 2-9-1 record for five points. This is a team with McDavid on it. That’s what’s so tragic about it.
As the Oilers and their followers look for answers – maybe they have to realize that the loss in the playoffs last season to Vegas affected them more than they’re willing to admit. Could it be that the Golden Knights broke the Oilers will? It happens in sports all the time. Think of the Buffalo Bills of the NFL from 1990 to 1993 with four straight Super Bowl losses. There’s also the famous “No Mas” fight when perennial Welterweight contender Roberto Duran threw in the towel against Sugar Ray Leonard back in the early 1980s. Did this current rendition of the Oilers experience their own brick wall when they lost to Vegas last spring? Because it’s sure looking like it right now.
Oilers Need Answers. Pronto.
Unfortunately Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft could be the sacrificial lamb if the losses continue to pile up. Woodcroft is a good coach stuck in a tough spot. If the Oilers need a wake-up call and a new voice, it could be Gerard Gallant, who seems to be the best available coaching candidate out there at the moment. But if you’re an Oilers fan, you have to hope the team can somehow dig deep and get this season back on the rails, and save Woodcroft’s job. He’s a good coach who deserves better, and if his time with the Oilers is up, you have to believe he’ll get a second chance somewhere else like former Oilers coach Todd McLellan, who has the L.A. Kings playing good fundamental hockey once again this season.
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The Oilers have already demoted goaltender Jack Campbell to the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL). Could a deal for a goaltender be on the horizon? Oilers general manager Ken Holland is up against the salary cap, and to move a player of value in, he’ll have to move valuable assets out. Could the Oilers go after Edmonton area product Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers or Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators? Only if draft picks and the possibility of a third team getting involved to take on salary is in the mix. Deals like this are usually done later in the season, but the Oilers are desperate and if it is indeed all-in during the final years of the Draisaitl and McDavid contracts, then a “miracle” trade needs to happen. Especially for a goaltender, and on the blue line where the Oilers still aren’t up to snuff.
Do you part ways with Dylan Holloway, Ryan McLeod or Philip Broberg? Do you trade the first-round pick in the upcoming draft? These are all questions that need to be answered. Not tomorrow. Now. Unless the team can turn it around on their own, the Oilers are going to need to wheel and deal well before the trade deadline to try and save the 2023-24 season.
Oilers Currently 8 Points Back of a Wildcard Spot
There’s a lot of season to be played, and it seems like panic has set into the Oilers locker room when players like Draisaitl are telling reporters that there’s a lack of confidence going around. In a normal season, you could say that the Oilers could snap out of it, go on a long winning streak, and get back into contention. But this doesn’t seem normal. It’s pretty dire in Oil Country at the moment. And answers are in short supply.
Related: Oilers’ Path Up From Rock Bottom
As a fan of the Oilers, I don’t like to talk about a team having their will broken, but that seems to be one of the only answers to why the Oilers seem so lifeless and broken. Did the fact that Vegas came back from deficits in both Games 5 and 6 in last spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs break the spirit of the Oilers? You have to hope not if you’re an Oilers fan. When your team goes from pre-season Stanley Cup contenders to the bottom of the heap in a month and a half, you have to hope someone has an answer somewhere. Because the Oilers don’t just look like a broken team at the moment, they are one. And that’s a real shame for a fan base who eats and breathes the Oilers 24/7/365.