A funny thing happened on the way to December. The Edmonton Oilers have found out they are a bad team. The worst, in fact, in a number of ways.

So, without further ado, let me count the ways.

But before we get started, let’s just take a minute to rejoice in the fact that as bad as things are for the team in Alberta’s capital, at least they’re not the Calgary Flames.

Those low-down, no-good dirty Flames who stink up the rink on a nightly basis, whenever they get a chance to crawl their sorry carcasses out the basement of the NHL standings, where they have been dwelling all season long.

At 6-13-5, they are the epitome of everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong for an NHL club. Check that, ‘alleged’ NHL club.

Am I right?

But here’s the thing. For as bad as the Flames have been on the way to winning just six of their first 24 games, at least they can lay claim to five regulation wins.

Know who can’t say that? That’s right, the Oilers.

The Oilers’ four regulation victories are good enough for a four-way tie for last place in the league. Sure, they have five overtime wins, but is that really something to boast about? That’s San Jose Sharks territory, who also have four regulation wins and five in overtime.

That’s the type of comparison the two-time Stanley Cup runner-up Oilers are drawing this season. Both teams have 23 points, but the Sharks have two games in hand. And no one is mistaking the Sharks for a good team.

But if you think that’s bad, just wait. There’s worse.

The Oilers have surrendered a league-high 84 goals on the season so far, putting them on pace to surrender 300 on the season. (OK, the math works out to exactly 299.5, but close enough).

Last year, only one team hit the 300 mark. The aforementioned Sharks allowed 315. The difference is, San Jose is on the way back up, while the Oilers — considering there is only one more thing they could do to improve upon the second-place finish of the past two years — are obviously on their way down.

It’s been meteoric. And we’re not talking about heights here.

From the same file of Oh, How the Mighty have Fallen, things aren’t exactly all sunshine and rainbows in The Sunshine State for the Florida Panthers this season. They’re in a two-way tie for 11th place in the Eastern Conference, while the Oilers are in a three-way tie for 10th in the Western Conference.

So, if you use your imagination, you can kind of tell yourself at least the Oilers are doing better than their former Stanley Cup foes right now.

Never mind the fact the Panthers have two Stanley Cup-ringed fingers to use to wipe away the tears.

Of course, the Oilers do have one not-so-secret weapon on their side. Connor McDavid appears to have finally come on line as he sits behind Nathan MacKinnon in first place in the points race following a slower-than-usual start to the season for the Oilers captain. (Or has that now become the usual start for Edmonton?).

MacKinnon has 36 points (a league-leading 16 goals, 20 assists) in 20 games and McDavid has 32 points (nine goals, and a league-leading 23 assists) in 23 games. That’s not bad. In fact, that’s upper-echelon good. Until you look at the plus-minus ratings of the two superstars.

MacKinnon sits at a league-best plus-22, ahead of teammate Cale Makar’s plus-20. In fact, the top five leaders in the category all play for the Colorado Avalanche, who lead the NHL with 33 points, having suffered just one regulation loss thus far.

OK, so what’s McDavid’s plus rating, you ask? The simple answer is, it’s not.

It’s minus-6, meaning he has been on the ice for six more goals-against than the Oilers have scored with the generational talent leading the charge. THAT’S how bad things are going for the Oilers right now, when they can boast two players in the top 10 (Leon Draisaitl is in a six-way tie for ninth place with 27 points) — the only club besides the Avs with multiple players that high on the leaderboard — and still only have a .500 record.

That’s how bad the rest of this Oilers roster is, when McDavid and Draisaitl’s ongoing efforts can’t even push this team over to the winning side of the tracks.

As for that imaginary scenario between which two-time reigning Stanley Cup finalist is worse, you don’t need your imagination. You just need to tune into Sportsnet on Saturday (5 p.m.) to see them in a rematch.

Considering the Oilers will be wrapping up a road trip that will have seen them play seven games in 11 days, this one is almost a foregone conclusion, isn’t it?

Or is it just room for more excuses and reminding their fans there is still plenty of hockey left to be played?

Either way, it’s just the rumblings of a bad team at this point.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge