Edmonton Oilers: 3 Keys To Success in 2017-18
By Ian Reid
The Edmonton Oilers are looking to continue their climb to Pacific Division dominance after breaking a lengthy playoff slump.
The Edmonton Oilers returned to the post season after finishing second in the Pacific Division. There was a lot of things that went right for the Oilers. A 100 point season by Connor McDavid, the breakout of Leon Draisaitl not to mention Cam Talbot.
The Oilers didn’t make any drastic moves this summer as far as additions go. Yet they look primed to prove last year was not a one off. Here are their three biggest keys to success during the 2017-18 season.
Leon Draisaitl
Draisaitl had a breakout season in 2016-17 and earned a big pay day because of it. Scoring 29 goals and 48 assists for 77 points earned him an 8 year $8.5 million dollar contract. With this summers jump in salary cap values he has more than enough time to make the contract look good by the time it is over. There is definitely a concern of too much, too soon but entering the season without Draisaitl would be far worse for the Oilers.
Over the course of this contract, Draisaitl will need to keep up and improve upon his point totals but more importantly, he will at some points need to do so without Connor McDavid. With the future of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in Edmonton unknown, The Oilers will likely need Draisaitl to center the second line to give it a Penguinsesque 1-2 punch. The ability for Draisaitl to excel both with and without McDavid will be key to their long term success.
Laurent Brossoit
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Last season Cam Talbot played a Herculean 73 of 82 games for the Edmonton Oilers. As admirable as this can’t continue if the Oilers are going to have their best chance of success in the post season.
Laurant Brossoit will be the likely backup goaltender for the Oilers and while he was great in a small sample size of games he will need to make a bigger contribution this season. He had a record of 4-1-0, with a goals-against average of 1.99 and a .928 save percentage.
The record and numbers are impressive but it will be interesting to see if he can maintain that level of play with a heavier work load. If it turns out that Brossoit can not be trusted to reduce Talbot’s work load, general manager Peter Chiarelli will need to address this need immediately. Finding a backup goalie isn’t difficult as there are currently more NHL goalies than NHL jobs. The Oilers also have plenty of cap space entering the season.
Connor McDavid
Sure it’s pretty cliche to mention McDavid in an article like this. It is hard to argue, however, that the Oilers go as McDavid goes. While in Hockey one player cannot carry an entire team on their back McDavid sure does try. Scoring at a league high 1.22 points-per-game, collecting the Hart, Ted Lindsay, and Art Ross Trophies his value is pretty evident.
The Oilers had a lot go right last season as they avoided the injury bugs to their star players. They got full seasons out of McDavid, Draisaitl, Eberle (now an Islander) Lucic, Nugent Hopkins and Oscar Klelfbolm. If the Oilers can stay healthy and potentially get a surprise in camp from a player like Jesse Puljujarvi they should have no problem starting a much better streak of playoff appearances.