The trees are up and decorated. The stockings have been hung with care. The yule log is in the fire. The elves are working furiously to prepare for Santa’s journey around the world tonight, and the Oilers are in a playoff spot. Ah, what a wonderful time of year!
Speaking of journeys around the world, it has been a long season for the Oilers so far (despite them having played the fewest games in the division to this point). It started with their European excursion, where they beat the Cologne Sharks in exhibition play in Germany and fell to the Devils to open the regular season in Sweden. Then they returned to North America, only to fall to the Bruins in Boston and narrowly escape New York with a 2-1 win over the Rangers. Then they went to Winnipeg and stole a win after trailing 4-1 through 2 periods.
Connor McDavid set a record by contributing to the team’s first 9 goals of the year. There was a lot of concern in Oil Country about the lack of secondary scoring, among other things. Despite those concerns, those two wins were the start of an 8-2-1 stretch. Things soon came to a crashing halt though. After that stretch, a loss in Washington was the start of a 1-6 stretch that would cost Todd McLellan his job. Enter Ken Hitchcock. The boys seemed to respond to Hitchcock. They started off 9-2-2 under the new bench boss, which was just barely enough to keep pace in the Pacific division race.
It’s been an up and down season, and right now, the Oilers are in a down stretch. They have now lost 4 of their last 5 games, including the last 3 in a row, after losing Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell to injuries in Colorado on December 11. The injuries on the blue line combined with the bottom 6’s inability to contribute on the score sheet is really making life difficult for Hitchcock and the Oilers.
The good news is that Russell is expected to be back really soon, possibly even for Thursday’s game against Vancouver. The other piece of good news is that Andrej Sekera appears to be close to a return. It sounds like he wants to go to the AHL to play a few games just to get his timing back, but the expectation is that he will return to the Oilers in January.
Those two returning from injury will lead to roster movement of some kind.
Click HERE to read what kind of moves Ryan thinks the Oilers have in store for the new year!
