Are The 2023 Edmonton Oilers The Most Talented Team To Never Win A Championship?
WRITTEN BY: NOAH “DR. TEE” CLENDENEN
Introduction
This season brought many hopes and doubts for an Oilers’ franchise that has been on the cusp of winning a championship for what has felt like an eternity. The 2022-23 campaign was no different for Edmonton fans, enjoying an illustrious regular season that gave them one of the greatest single seasons by a player of our generation (Connor McDavid’s 153 points), alongside the league’s 2nd leading scorer that would’ve won MVP any other year unanimously (Leon Draisaitl 128 points).
The conclusion people haven’t yet decided is whether or not the Oilers will and can ever get over the hump. Today I wanna go over what makes an Oilers team as loaded as this so much fun to watch, but leaves so much on the table, while still showing you why they have the ability to eventually be the NHL’s champs. Will their regular season dominance ever fully lap over to the league’s biggest stage? Let’s look at some numbers and determine if the Oilers will be the league’s next best to never be the best, or if an image of McDavid and Draisaitl hoisting the cup together is more than a dream.
Historic Offensive Firepower
The recent success of the Oilers offense is no new news to any hockey fans. They set a NHL record during the 2023 season for the highest power play percentage in a season with over 32%, while their 2019-20 percentage ranks 5th among the leaderboard today. So what makes the “PP” so dangerous for the Oilers and how do they capitalize so much on other teams' mistakes? Simply put they have possibly the most talented roster in the league today. With two former MVP’s, and a multi-time MVP on their roster in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, a power play anywhere below the league’s best is a disappointment. The Oilers also have constructed a roster around those two guys extremely well in the past two seasons, with guys like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finally breaking out with a 104-point campaign, and Evan Bouchard who was looking like the next coming of Brian Leetch in this year’s postseason. Zach Hyman also made for a great boost when needed, tallying over 80 points of his own.
Despite success in the postseason becoming a struggle, scoring goals simply hasn’t. The Oilers had a power play percentage well over 50% heading into the Vegas series and that didn’t seem to dip that much throughout it. Two of the league’s best players thrived in what was a hostile and exciting environment in both Vegas and Edmonton, even though there were some hiccups that ultimately caused the Oilers the series (see section below).
The way that the Oilers were able to move the puck between themselves effortlessly in offensive transition and in high danger areas was magnificent. What looked to be a team that was built upon fault in last year’s western conference finals loss to the Colorado Avalanche was ready to avenge their past, and what’s more was that until game 5 of the Vegas series they sure looked like it.
What was probably most intriguing about this Oilers team was that they were finally playing night in and night out like a team that should be in the position they found themselves in heading into game 5 of the western conference semifinals. They were coming off of their highest regular season point total (109) since the 1985-86 team that had 119. Their shouldn’t have been anything stopping a team with as much gel when it came to scoring goals as the Oilers did - but a team as strong as their weakest link can easily be exposed and for the Oilers, a link was exposed when it came to playing like a group of players that have been their and done that.
The Struggle To Close Out Big Games
The Oilers were terrific in transition and were probably the most exciting team to watch in the regular season. That’s one thing. However, what was the ultimate downfall was the Oilers ability to rally and come together when it mattered the most. It’s like dumb decisions where part of the Oilers losing Game 6, even though no team is perfect, the Oilers were just a team that looked as if they hadn’t been put into high-stake situations enough. Allowing 3 straight goals in the second period of a must-win game and then having absolutely no push back while reminding yourself that you were up 2-1 heading into that period is unacceptable for a team that wants a championship pedigree so bad.
The next worst thing to come out of that series was easily the fact that McDavid and Draisaitl can’t simply be trusted to do every little thing every single game. That’s just not how the NHL as a league can be played in. Even though McDavid and Draisaitl can do that, they can’t do it every game - it’s just not possible especially when you're playing playoff hockey. When a player of Leon Draisaitl’s caliber hasn’t scored a point in 3-straight games maybe that’s when you look in the mirror as a team and understand that you need to give a little more. It’s fun to see two guys doing all the work, but it’s just not winning hockey.
Hope Y’all Enjoyed,
and Until Next Time.