The Edmonton Oilers needed to address three key elements that dragged them into the depths of mediocrity this season: team defence, urgency and goaltending.
They couldn’t fix them all, but two out of three ain’t bad.
With the addition of Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson they hope to have bolstered the team defence thing. And a quick look ahead at the upcoming schedule will absolutely ramp up their intensity.
Goaltending remains a concern — despite four different goalies this year, the Oilers still are still lacking in that position — but the hope is that better defence and a more focused team translates into a better save percentage.
So maybe general manager Stan Bowman really did score the hat trick. We’ll see.
Amid the usual deadline week online click bait (the Oilers were going to swing a blockbuster, the Oilers were after Jordan Binnington, Darnell Nurse’s name was involved in heated trade talks), Bowman was working in the world of reality where he filled some holes with what little he had to work with.
A third-line defensive centre in Dickinson, a big shutdown defenceman in Connor Murphy and some size, energy and physicality on the fourth line in Colton Dach.
If they can help fill those pressing needs, the Oilers could be poised to take a big step forward.
Connor McDavid, for one, feels the Oilers are in a much, much better place than they were just a few days ago.
“The guys we brought in are good adds,” said the Oilers captain. “Obviously Murph with his size, he defends hard. Same with Dickinson.
“And Dach is a young guy who plays physical and plays with an edge. He’s still trying to find his way in this league but there is a bunch of potential. I like all three.”
So what does this mean in terms of that Stanley Cup window they plan on climbing through one of those days? If this enough? For a team that can score goals with anyone in the league, was the magic elixir they’ve been waiting for all season just a couple of depth guys from Chicago?
Where does this leave the Oilers in the Western Conference pecking order? Can they be mentioned in the same sentence as the Central Division’s Triangle of Death — Dallas, Minnesota and Colorado?
“I think it’s still to be determined,” said McDavid. “I think there is still lots to be figured out.”
True. You can’t ignore what we’ve been watching for five months and assume it’s all better now because three incoming depth players have good reviews.
Let’s give it a few games to see how the new guys look and how the rest of the team responds to the additions and the stretch-drive stakes. But, as McDavid points out, beyond the big three, the rest of the West is up for grabs and it won’t take much for the Oilers to be as good or better as any other team in the Pacific Division mix.
“Besides the three teams in the Central it seems like there are a lot of teams right there,” he said. “We have a chance to put together some good hockey, go on a run and put ourselves in a good spot going into the playoffs.”
As for the urgency, that part of it is about to be forced upon them with Carolina, Vegas, Colorado and Dallas up next on the schedule.
This is the perfect storm. They needed good defensive players, they added some. They needed to buckle down and get serious about playing winning hockey, these four opponents will scare them into doing exactly that.
With 20 games to go and the deadline behind them, this is where we find out what the Oilers are really made of.
“It’s a great opportunity for our group to play against the league’s best,” said McDavid. “We feel like we’re one of those teams. We haven’t shown it necessarily all year but this is a great chance to play against them and see where we’re at.”
It won’t be about running and gunning and putting up six goals a night, it will be about proving they can still play the kind of hard, smart, structured game that wins at this time of year.
After 62 games of not seeing it, it’s no longer a question of will they find that style, it’s a question of can they. Do they still have it in them?
McDavid thinks so. In fact, he says he knows so.
“For sure I believe that,” he said. “It’s something that we’ve taken a lot of pride in over the years but lately for whatever reason it hasn’t been going great. It’s something we need to get back to.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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