Back in the summer both fans and media pundits heralded the moves that the Oilers made in free agency. A team that had relied too much on one line scoring and a lack of true top six wingers added Jeff Skinner and Victor Arvidsson. Adam Henrique who had proven to be a solid winger or top nine centre came back, and reportedly taking less AAV to be in Edmonton than offers he had received elsewhere. Ryan McLeod was dealt for Matt Savoie which hurt a little, but the Oilers had Henrique to be their third line centre while adding a high end prospect that tracked as a future top six forward.
Then some of the issues began. Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg were offer sheeted and while it was expected that the Oilers would not match on Broberg at 4.5 million, not signing Holloway at 2.2 felt like a misstep. Emberson and Podkolzin were brought in on low risk deals who lacked the pedigree of Holloway or Broberg but had potential to still play solid roles on this team.
Flash forward to today.
Arvidsson, a winger who averaged well over 3 shots a game and had a 20 and 26 goal season with the Kings and 6 goals in 18 games in an injury riddled season has 8 goals in 50 games and averaging just over 2 shots a game.
Jeff Skinner who scored 33, 35, and 24 in his past three seasons with Buffalo has 11 goals in 55 games and likely would be closer to the 20 goal mark if the coach decided to play him. Skinner averages less Henrique, Arvidsson, Podkozlin, Janmark, and Brown and yet has outscored all of them.
Zach Hyman has 22 goals on the season and is the only top six winger still producing but he is still well off his point totals from the past two years even if no one should have expected a repeat of his 54 goal season.
Nugent-Hopkins has been a non factor in far too many games this season and a regular passenger next to Connor McDavid. Despite all this, Knoblauch will not move him off #97's line.
Evan Bouchard has struggled this season, as has Ekholm and Nurse.
And the goaltending... the Oilers around him are playing uninterested and lethargic hockey but Stuart Skinner simply cannot make a key save right now and his partner Calvin Pickard isn't fairing much better.
The Oilers now sit in third in the Pacific Division and in danger of losing home ice advantage. That is less of a concern right now than the fact that this is a team that quite simply looks checked out.
Oh and to make matters worse? Ryan McLeod - career year with 14 goals and 35 points. Dylan Holloway - career year with 21 goals and 48 points. Warren Foegele - on pace for a career year with 19 goals and 37 points.
It's this last paragraph in particular that makes me turn my focus and ire onto coach Kris Knoblauch. Knoblauch came in and immediately helped this team play a far better defensive game. That level of commitment was a huge part in this team's success and run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. What we are seeing now is a coach that is so risk adverse, he is sucking the offensive life from this group.
Jeff Skinner is exhibit A to this whole thing. A player who has shown time and time again that he can produce and score goals where ever he is in the lineup but scratched in favor of offensive black holes like Podkolzin or Janmark because they take less risks. RNH kept on the top line despite his struggles because he doesn't take risks. Savoie sent back down despite starting to build some chemistry with Draisaitl because he is young and might make a mistake.
This isn't just a Knoblauch issue, this is an organizational issue that has plagued Edmonton since the early McDavid years. Holloway, Broberg, McLeod are just some of the recent examples of players who have gone on to success the moment they get away from Edmonton because their coach has empowered them to go out there and play hockey. Whether it is conscious or not, there has always been a clear showcase that the Oilers bottom two lines are there to not get scored on and to wait until the big guns can get out onto the ice.
Draisaitl is having a career year and quite frankly should be the Hart favorite because the Oilers quite simply are not a playoff team this year without him. Draisaitl was supposed to finally have two top six wingers to play with and bolster his play this year; instead the dynamic forward has 47 goals because quite frankly no one else on his line can shoot the puck.
Over the past few years teams like the Avalanche, Golden Knights, Stars, Lightning, and the Panthers have all had "that one bad year." Colorado lost to the Kraken in the first round, the Golden Knights missed the playoffs in 21/22, won the Cup. and lost in the first round the following year. The Stars lost in the Finals in 19/20, missed the playoffs the following year, and lost in the first round the year after before going to back to back conference finals. Tampa won back to back Cups, lost in the finals and have since lost in the first round in back to back years.
Great teams have struggles and no one except the trolls should be saying anything about McDavid is going to want to leave after this season or that the Oilers Cup chances have dried up. This remains a strong core and while it sucks for the fans - this simply just might not be their year.
There is still time to turn things around. Trent Frederic has yet to play a game for this team. Evander Kane could be back in the playoffs. Some extra help could be on the way. That all being said, unless the rest of this group decides they actually want to go for it again this year, none of those things are going to make a difference.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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