32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers undergo massive changes as they begin soft rebuild

Team: Edmonton Oilers

GM: Bob Ramsey

Power Ranking Placement: 23/32 in league, 7/8 in division, 14/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

Bo Horvat, C/W - 86 OV

Cam Fowler, D - 84 OV

Tanner Jeannot, C/W - 82 OV

Zach Whitecloud, D - 80 OV

Jason Dickinson, C/W - 79 OV

Brendan Smith, D - 78 OV

Alexander Holtz, C/W - Prospect

Ty Young, G - Prospect

Significant Subtractions:

Mark Scheifele, C/W - 90 OV

Victor Hedman, D - 90 OV

Drew Doughty, D - 88 OV

Blake Wheeler, C/W - 87 OV

Tuukka Rask, G - 82 OV

Jamie Drysdale, D - 77 OV

Offseason grade: C-

This was just a very confusing off-season to me. The Edmonton Oilers finish second in the Pacific, and then trade away all of their star players barring Zibanejad. They also lost their only competent backup in Rask. So you’d think they’re attempting to maybe rebuild, but then they trade away Drysdale. Mind you, they got a decent haul for him, but it just conflicts with all the other moves they’ve made this off-season. They did add Holtz and Young, so they are clearly interested in building for the future, but their off-season just felt like a series of conflicting trades that make you think “well maybe they’re trying to compete,” and then they trade players who will help them compete for the future, and then you think “well maybe they’re trying to build their future,” and then trade important pieces of that future. All that being said, the Oilers do have a bright future ahead of them with Boldy and Holtz and some solid players on the roster who still have potential for growth, but it’s a lot of risk considering what they once had. Notably, one positive that losing all these players brings is cap space. The Oilers have 13M in cap space still, so there is still time for them to address some of their weaknesses, but as of the time of writing, this was a weaker off-season for the Oilers in which they were not able to address areas of concern. I could definitely be wrong and maybe this off-season will look great in the next couple of years, hindsight and whatnot, but going from top 2 in the division to bottom 2, in my opinion, warrants a C-. 

Projected Lineup: 

Zibanejad - Horvat - Bjorkstrand

Saad - Eriksson Ek - Jeannot

Sanford - Boldy - Fast

Tippett - Steel - Kuokkanen

-

Fowler - Parayko

Pelech - Whitecloud

Mayfield - Anderson

-

DeSmith

Fucale

Quote from the GM:

When asked about the direction of the team, GM Bob Ramsey said, “I’m pretty happy with some of the moves we’ve been able to make with this Oilers team. Moved out a good chunk of salary, and age, and have brought some promising youth on board. We don’t have any big expectations for the upcoming season, but do believe we can still be a thorn in the side of the league with our game. I wouldn’t say we’re in a total rebuild state, but maybe more of a retool mode. Look for a couple more moves to fix up a couple of holes, and in a couple of seasons from now, we should be in a pretty happy place for some years to come.” 

Season Expectations: Rebuild

I do agree that it’s not a total rebuild for the Oilers and more of a soft rebuild/retooling (however, I still question trading Drysdale if that’s the case). Regardless, the rebuild category is where they fall into in terms of season expectations. I don’t expect the Oilers to be competitive until all of their younger players have had a chance to develop. Much like the Central, the Pacific has a pretty clear top 5 in which the Oilers do not quite crack. I don’t think they are bad enough to be in the Bedard sweepstakes, but not good enough to make the playoffs. They’ve done a decent job at acquiring assets to help them break out in a couple of seasons, so I imagine this season and maybe next will be more about trying out different line combinations and strategies and seeing what sticks for when they’re finally ready to compete again. Edmonton is a good enough team that they can get some upset wins every now and then, and I think in due time will be back to their former glory.

In the next entry, we’ll be covering the Florida Panthers. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful night!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-chicago-blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-colorado-avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets: 

https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-columbus-blue-jackets

Dallas Stars: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-dallas-stars

Detroit Red Wings: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-detroit-red-wings