The Edmonton Oilers nudged back into a playoff Saturday night with an Overtime win over Carolina.
You are forgiven for feeling like the Oilers should not be that high in the standings given how the season has gone so far.
But if Edmonton can right the ship on the toughest road trip of the season, it is possible that the worst of it is behind them.
That and more in this edition of…
9 Things
9. Back on free agency day the Oilers were trying to sign both Andrew Mangiapane and Jack Roslovic. They got Mangiapane then. Roslovic only came later when he could not find a deal elsewhere. The early, small sample returns? Mangiapane is -16. Roslovic is +6.
8. After a brief absence from the Condors nets Connor Ingram was back in goal for Bakersfield on Saturday. He allowed 4, and while it was his best outing of the year to date it was still far from perfect. I believe it bears repeating: If you really want this guy to help the Oilers, do not rush him.
7. One of the early knocks against Noah Philp was his faceoff prowess. But so far, he has been excellent in the circle at (going into Saturday) 58.9% efficiency. It is yet another reason to use him more on the PK. But in fact, the Oilers have three pivots off to great starts on the dot: Adam Henrique is at 59.7% and Leon Draisaitl at 55.4%. Leon was 73% Saturday. Possession matters.
6. At the outset of this season, I said if the Edmonton Oilers were to have a successful season at least one of Matt Savoie or Ike Howard would need to make the grade. With Howard now in the AHL and Savoie in the Oilers’ Top 6, it looks like Savoie will be the guy. What was the main difference between these two talented prospects? 72 AHL games. More on Howard in a minute…
5. The Maple Leafs claimed Troy Stecher off waivers Saturday. A warrior, Stecher had nonetheless fallen to #8 in Edmonton. It would have made little sense to move along from younger guys like Ty Emberson or Alec Regula on decent deals and with greater potential. Yes, it would have been nice to have Stecher in the organization, but I think a good pro like him deserves a chance to catch on elsewhere.
4. We are all searching for answers to explain the Oilers uneven play. I do not look far past the absences of Zach Hyman and (more recently) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Take any team’s third and fourth best players out of their lineup for an extended time and there is likely to be a negative impact. You do not just miss out on all the aspects of your team’s game that those two guys touch. But two other players must play higher up in the lineup than they probably should. Hyman was fabulous on Saturday, an assist and eleven hits!
3. The Edmonton Oilers defence corps were supposed to be a lot better than this. In terms of boxing men out, clearing loose pucks from danger and handing the puck over to the opposition…it has been real messy. In fact, Edmonton has the fifth worst percentage of goals against on rebounds (19.15% going into Saturday). And they have the fourthmost defensive zone giveaways. Those kinds of results are simply not going to get it done. But not all of that is on the Defence or even the (until very recently) the uneven goaltending.
2. As I watched Saturday’s game against the Hurricanes, I felt that we were seeing a perfect example of what is wrong with the Oilers. Carolina is a fast, hard-working, hard forechecking team. The Oilers blueline has even fewer precious seconds on retrievals or as they are working back up the ice. But the Oilers breakouts are too disconnected. The forwards just get too high too fast, and they are not leaving the defenders with those critical five-foot pass options. As a result, its is either up the middle or off the wall. And with your forwards high, a turnover results in an odd-man rush instead of a less dangerous three-on-three. And look: I do not know if this is a system error, the guys not executing, or a bit of both. But it needs to be fixed PDQ.
1.Ike Howard’s first stop in the NHL lasted 17 games. Now, I say “first” because I saw enough out of the kid to believe that he remains a top prospect and will be back. Some folks feel it is a mistake to farm out a player with his offensive tools. And while I respect their opinions I ultimately disagree. The NHL, even though there has been some evolution to younger players making their impact on the game sooner, is still not a development league. It is a “win” league. And whether you agree with Kris Knoblauch’s deployment of Howard, the coach has one job and that is to get “W”’s. And if that means under ten minutes a night for a prospect who needs lots of touches, then it is a situation benefitting no one.
Besides: When in the past has it served this organization well to force a rookie into the NHL lineup before they were ready? I often think back to Jesse Puljujarvi. I do not absolve the player needed to shoulder for his role in the failed experiment in Edmonton. But the club certainly did not put him in the best possible situation to succeed.
With Ike Howard, this team has other, real NHL options. They do not need to force Ike Howard into the lineup to suite the needs of the team as they did Puljujarvi. Instead, they can give him lots of all-situation minutes in the AHL as it suits the needs of the player. Howard had two assists in his Condors debut.
There is an old, time-tested saying in business that also applies to sport: It is very rarely a mistake to just do the right thing.
This article is not AI generated.
Leavins Cult of Hockey
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Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.
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