Edmonton Oilers: 5 players who must improve next season
The Edmonton Oilers must show some improvement after being one of the biggest underachievers last season. Here are five players who they need to bounce back in 2018-19.
Coming off their first postseason appearance in over a decade, the Edmonton Oilers had great expectations to live up to last season. This is something they were not able to do, as they finished as arguably the NHL’s biggest underachievers. The Oilers went from 103 points in 2016-17 to merely 78 in 2017-18.
Going into this season, the pressure is high in Edmonton. The Oilers can’t afford to burn another amazing year from captain Connor McDavid. He’s in the best years of his career, so it stands to gain the team’s best chances of winning are right now.
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As bad as the Oilers were last season, they likely aren’t truly as bad as they looked last year. Just like they weren’t as good as they were in 2016-17. The Oilers are somewhere in the middle.
The big question is which side are they closer towards – the team who challenged the Anaheim Ducks in the second round? Or the team who did so poorly, McDavid wasn’t a Hart Trophy finalist despite having more points than he did during his 2016-17 Hart campaign?
Going into the 2018-19 season, the Oilers are looking for their underachieving roster to bounce back. This was the largest reason for their unexpected fall from grace in 2017-18. Some of them are veterans who must shake off rusty seasons. Others are young players being expected to handle larger roles.
It’s not a good sign that the Oilers are banking on a lot of things going right. But you can’t write off any team that has McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. So a return to the postseason, while not likely, is undeniably plausible. Here are the five players who the Oilers will be counting on most heavily to improve.