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DALOilers’ Poor Home Record Could Cost Them
The Edmonton Oilers weren’t feeling much love on Valentine’s Day after dropping a 3-1 decision in Pittsburgh the night before in the much-hyped Sidney Crosby vs Connor McDavid showdown. The Oilers have just one win in six games since the All-Star break, have lost seven of the last eight and were trailing the final wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference by half a dozen points.
The players weren’t getting any warm and fuzzy feelings from head coach Ken Hitchcock either as he publicly ripped into them after a 5-2 home loss at the hands of the San Jose Sharks a few days earlier. To top things off, a few fans have also been getting in on the act by tossing Oilers’ jerseys onto the ice during a recent home loss.
Luckily for the club, the downfall against Pittsburgh was the start of a short three-game road trip, where they have performed much better than at home at Rogers Arena. With a 12-15-1 record in Edmonton, the team has lost the most home games in the league this season while their 12-12-4 mark on the road is quite respectable.
The Oilers didn’t struggle at home earlier in the campaign, but have now gone 2-11 in the last 13 games they’ve hosted. In comparison, they’re 6-4-3 on their travels in the last 13 outings. Nobody really knows the reason for the contrast between home and away results, but maybe it’s something as simple as the brutal winter weather the city endures.
Hitchcock can’t pinpoint the problem either and remarked to the local media, “We play a different game on the road. We get impatient at home and don’t stay on task at times and it hurts us. You don’t want to have to bring your road game home, but I think we get caught up in being something we’re not at home. We have to figure that out.”
They better figure it out soon though as the Oilers are closing in on the end of the runway with just 26 games remaining in the season. If they had managed to go just .500 over the last 13 home encounters they’d be sitting in a playoff spot right now.
Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said the squad needs to get off to better starts at home and dictate the action right from the drop of the puck. He stated, “You want to make it tough for teams to come into your building to play and that starts right off the bat and gets the fans into it.”
According to some hockey analysts the lack of success for the Oilers simply comes down to icing an inferior product night after night. The team boasts three legitimate stars in McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl. But after that trio, the talent pool appears to be pretty shallow. McDavid averages 22:51 minutes of ice per game while Draisaitl sees 22:07 and Nugent-Hopkins skates 20:11 a night. That’s a lot of work over an 82-game schedule and it takes a toll on the body. However, Hitchcock doesn’t have much choice other than to play his horses as much as possible.
The makeup of the team is mainly former general manager Peter Chiarelli’s doing, but there’s no point blaming him now since he was fired not long ago. Some media moguls have been criticizing the defensive play of Draisaitl and McDavid lately, but their main task is to carry the team on their shoulders offensively. Some fans and critics expect more however since McDavid’s widely regarded as one of the top two players in the world.
Hitchcock’s rant didn’t exactly have the desired affect on his squad since they were beaten in Pittsburgh, but at least the effort was there. The problem is, effort doesn’t always result in two points in the NHL. The head coach doesn’t really have anything to lose at this point though and he’s at least trying to light a fire under his troops. Also, there won’t be any lingering ill feelings and grudges held between players and coach since the 67-year-old Hitchcock won’t be back next season.
To further complicate matters in Edmonton is the upcoming NHL trade deadline on Feb. 25th. The team’s just as close to last place in the league as it is to a playoff spot so they need to decide if they’re going to buy or sell later this month? Trade rumors always run rampant at this time of the year, but the Oilers simply don’t have many established players to interest the rest of the league other than perhaps goaltender Cam Talbot and forward Jesse Puljujarvi. They have several young prospects in the system such as Evan Bouchard and Caleb Jones, but do they want to trade away the future?
Interim GM Keith Gretzky and the front office would also have to agree which area of the ice needs to be addressed first. Do they need a proven starting goaltender as top priority, a couple of solid blue liners or help on the wings? There’s also a good chance one or two newcomers won’t make a difference to their fortunes at this point of the season and they should overhaul the roster during the summer.
If the Oilers continue to slide down the standings the organization may consider taking it easy after the trade deadline and take their chances at top prospect Jack Hughes in the June draft. And considering the franchise’s incredible lottery luck over the years who could blame them?
Edmonton will soon have top-four defenseman Andrej Sekera back in the lineup and if they can improve in their own end over the next few weeks and stop blowing leads they should remain in the playoff hunt. They won’t climb the standings unless they start picking up crucial points at home though or convince the league to let them play the the remainder of the schedule on the road.
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