Each day in the month of August we’ll be examining a different NHL team — from looking back at last season to discussing a player under pressure to identifying X-factors to asking questions about the future. Today we look at the Edmonton Oilers.
2018-19
35-38-9, 79 points (7th in Pacific Division, 14th in Western Conference)
Playoffs: Did not qualify
IN:
Mike Smith
Markus Granlund
Tomas Jurco
Josh Archbald
James Neal
OUT:
Andrej Sekera
Ty Rattie
Milan Lucic
Tobias Rieder
Anthony Stolarz
Al Montoya
RE-SIGNED:
Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira
2018-19 Season Summary
The Edmonton Oilers have the best player in the game in Connor McDavid, but that hasn’t guaranteed them any kind of success. Over the last four years, the Oilers have made the postseason just once and that was in 2016-17.
The Oilers opened last season with a loss to the New Jersey Devils in Gothenburg, Sweden. Edmonton got off to a solid start, as they went 8-3-1 in the first 12 games of the season. Unfortunately for them, things fell apart in November. They dropped six of seven games between Nov. 5-18 and they had just three victories over the last 12 games of the month. That string off poor performances led to head coach Todd McLellan being fired on Nov. 20. He was replaced by veteran bench boss Ken Hitchcock.
[More: Under Pressure | Three Questions | X-Factor]
December got off to a much better start. They had a 6-1-1 record in the first eight games of the month. The excitement in Edmonton didn’t last very long, as they ended up dropping the last six games before the start of the new year.
As you’d expect, the high-end players on the roster were pulling their weight, but the supporting cast ended up getting called out by Hitchcock.
“I thought those guys that we go to every game played their hearts out,” Hitchcock said after a 4-3 loss to the Jets, per NHL.com. “McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins played their hearts out, and we need more support for those players. The cavalry isn’t coming for those players. We need the bottom end of our team to start playing better if we expect to get to the next level. We’re covering our own weight at the top, but we need better play from the bottom end of our group.”
The struggles carried into the new year and the Oilers ended up letting go of general manager Peter Chiarelli. In the end, the Oilers finished second from the bottom in the conference. Only the Los Angeles Kings finished below them in the standings.
Changes were made in the offseason. Ken Holland left Detroit to take the GM opening and he hired Dave Tippett as his first head coach. Both men have a ton of experience but rebuilding the Oilers into a championship contender won’t be easy.
“The goal is to build the Edmonton Oilers into a playoff team and a legitimate Cup contender,” said Holland via NHL.com. “Certainly there are pieces there, but you have to be deeper. Those teams that go on those long playoff runs, they’re deep and you have to have depth in your organization and on your farm team. You can’t just be relying on five or six guys over 82 games; as great as they are, they’re just not going to make it.”
Some changes were made during the summer. They signed Mike Smith, traded for James Neal and added some depth pieces up front. There’s still plenty of work for Holland to do to get the Oilers to where they want to be. It may take some time for them to get there, but new management and a new head coach gives the fan base a new sense of hope.
MORE:
• ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.