Oilers’ Concerns Shouldn’t Be With Draisaitl & McDavid

The Edmonton Oilers are in a complete tailspin. They’re 2-7-1, tied for the second-worst record through 10 games in franchise history. They have five points, which is less than every other NHL team this season with the exception of the historically bad San Jose Sharks. They were supposed to be Stanley Cup contenders, but now don’t even look capable of a playoff berth. 

Defensively, the Oilers have been a dumpster fire: giveaways, breakdowns, mental lapses, and an utter lack of resistance. They’ve hung their goalies out to dry just about every way possible, and the result is an average of 4.10 goals against per game, third highest in the NHL. 

Meanwhile, the Oilers are only averaging 2.70 goals per game, down significantly from an average of 3.96 goals per game last season, when Edmonton led the league in scoring. 

An emerging concern is the lack of offensive production from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who were first and second, respectively, on the NHL points leaderboard in 2022-23 and have combined to win the Art Ross Trophy six times in the last seven years. 

Draisaitl & McDavid in Scoring Slump

Draisaitl has gone seven games without a goal. McDavid, who missed a pair of games with an upper-body injury, hasn’t scored in his last five outings. Neither has a goal since both scored in Edmonton’s 6-1 victory at the Nashville Predators on Oct. 17, almost three weeks ago. That’s unprecedented in the dynamic duo’s eight-plus years as Oilers teammates. 

And that’s the exact reason Edmonton fans shouldn’t be concerned about Draisaitl and McDavid. This current situation is the outlier of all outliers. They might play together another eight years and not go simultaneously ice cold for such an extended stretch. They will turn things around, likely right away. And the output is just as likely to be prolific.  

But as we’ve seen since 2015, when McDavid came into the league, the combined brilliance of the Oilers superstar duo isn’t nearly enough to drag an entire team to a championship. This brings us to the crux of the matter.

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The mess the Oilers find themselves in isn’t so much to do with Draisaitl and McDavid. It has more to do with certain other players in orange and blue that have not picked up the slack.

Edmonton’s Bottom Six is MIA

Through 10 games, the only goals from Edmonton’s third or fourth forward lines were scored within 3:01 of each other by veteran center Sam Gagner in Edmonton’s 4-3 home loss to the Dallas Stars last Thursday (Nov. 2).

Related: 3 Takeaways From Oilers’ 4-3 Loss to the Stars

That’s the same Sam Gagner who was playing his first NHL game of 2023-24 after starting the season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Bakersfield Condors. That’s the same Sam Gagner who’s coming back from double hip surgery. That’s the same Sam Gagner who, at age 34, is a decade-plus older and theoretically that much slower than Oilers bottom-six regulars Dylan Holloway (zero points in 10 games) and Ryan McLeod (one assist in 10 games).

A Stanley Cup-calibre team – which the Oilers thought themselves to be – has depth players that will carry the load on the rare occasion their leaders can’t. Even superheroes need help: Iron Man and Captain America don’t save the world without Hawkeye and Vision, just like Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier don’t win all those Stanley Cups without Charlie Huddy and Esa Tikkanen.

And that’s where the real concern is, because while their spectacular track records tell us that Draisaitl and McDavid will get back to their business of being the greatest offensive players on the planet, what evidence can we find to suggest that the rest of this team is going to turn into a championship ensemble?

Oilers Need to Look in the Mirror

So many of Edmonton’s defensive issues are related to effort and focus that should be able to be addressed, at least to some degree. That’s a matter of the defenceman in question looking within.

Skill helps a lot offensively, but so does hustle. Gagner scored his goals by going to the net and not being afraid to get his jersey dirty. Again, maybe some players need to look within. And if they don’t look within, then they should look to their new/old teammate for an example. There’s a reason why Gagner is in his 17th NHL season.

The 2023-24 NHL season is not yet four weeks old, and the Oilers are already six points out of a playoff spot. Must-win territory is rapidly approaching, even with 72 games left on their schedule.

Oilers Making Visit to Vancouver

Edmonton’s next opportunity to get on track comes tonight (Nov. 6) on the road against the red-hot Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. Vancouver is 8-2-1, boasts the best goal differential in the NHL (plus-26), and is already 2-0 against the Oilers this season, outscoring them 12-4 in the process.

Will Draisaitl and/or McDavid break out of their respective slump against the Canucks? And even if they do, will it be enough?