EDMONTON — When you stumble out of the gate at 1-3, you can always blame it on the lack of a training camp prior to this weird, pandemic hockey season. When you find yourself at 3-6 in a 56-game season however, a guy starts to get a little nervous.
So as we glance back at the first half of the Edmonton Oilers’ season, a 28-game span that sees them at 17-11 — tied with Carolina as the best team in the league at winning one-goal games, and oddly the only club without a loser point this season — it’s most pertinent to focus down on the 14-5 mark Edmonton has posted since working its way out of that early season funk.
They had another hiccup, losing three straight to Toronto, but ripped off three straight wins after that to sit just six points behind the division-leading Leafs at the halfway point. That’s a deficit, to be sure, but not insurmountable with two games left against Toronto.
Somehow, soon-to-be 39-year-old Mike Smith has played like a young Mike Palmateer, and the promise made by the two superstars to set a better example defensively has been both delivered on and emulated by the rest of the roster. After a rocky start, offenceman Tyson Barrie has hit the turn ranked third among NHL D-men in assists (19) and tied for fourth in points (22).
Meanwhile, Jesse Puljujarvi rode his magic Karpat back to Edmonton as a legit NHL winger, drawing a sigh of relief and excitement from a fan base that loves his smile and Golden Retriever tongue equally.
So, before trying to make it seven straight Friday against the Ottawa Senators, let’s dig in on the Oilers’ first half, knowing that since that ugly first nine games their winning percentage is .737. That’s mighty good hockey.
First-half stats
Team record: 17-11-0, (Tied for second in North Division)
Goals for: 3.32 per game (6th in NHL)
Goals against: 2.96 per game (17th in NHL)
Power play: 26.6 per cent (7th in NHL)
Penalty kill: 76.7 per cent (21st in NHL)
Best surprise
It’s a toss-up, really, between Smith and Puljujarvi, with the goaltender getting the nod because of how important his success is to the team, and where Edmonton might be if Smith hadn’t been this good.
That Puljujarvi has shown he is back on track — he’s got seven goals and 10 points in the first half — restores a sense of calm in Edmonton. He’s not a bust – phew! — and down the road Puljujarvi could very well be the 25-to-30-goal winger that befits the kind of centremen they ice here.
But Smith’s .927 save percentage, fourth among NHL goalies with at least 10 starts, is a gift from the hockey gods. He missed the first 13 games with an injury, and it was fair to worry about whether this old cat would ever catch up. Well, his 2.18 goals-against average is sixth in the league (at least 10 starts) and his stable game has put Mikko Koskinen back in his position of comfort, as a guy who splits the load rather than being asked to carry it.
Did anyone looking at this tandem prior to the season think it possible for Edmonton to rank 13th with a team save percentage of .914 at even strength? Well, that’s where they are at the halfway point.
Biggest disappointment
Kyle Turris and Dominik Kahun.
Look, free agency is a crap shoot. GM Ken Holland did well to land Barrie, and Devin Shore has been a useful depth forward. But Kahun and Turris have struggled, both in their play and in hanging on to a roster spot.
Turris is signed for two years at $1.65 million per — augmented by a $2 million buyout coming from Nashville. He was brought in to play third-line centre, but watched Jujhar Khaira steal his job. Then Gaetan Haas beat Turris for the 4C position, and now Turris is a bottom-six winger trying to prove that he still has the foot speed to be a legit NHLer at age 31.
Turris has a goal and four points, and is a team-worst minus-11. He was brought in to help defensively and chip in some offence from 3C hole. It’s not happening for Turris.
Kahun, meanwhile, appears to be a glorified Tobias Rieder — a useful bottom-six winger but not a game-changing player. He came to Edmonton touted as Draisaitl’s childhood buddy and plug-and-play linemate. But thus far Kahun has proven himself a perimeter player whose four goals do not overwhelm, considering he spent much of the first half on the wing of one of the NHL’s premier setup men.
Kahun was a healthy scratch as the calendar turned from the first half to the second. He’s on a one-year UFA deal that won’t be renewed unless the 25-year-old gets off the walls and into some scoring areas more often.
Biggest question for the second half: The left side
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is Edmonton’s top left winger, and after him the dropoff is stark.
Kahun? Tyler Ennis? James Neal? Joakim Nygard?
Who flanks the other mega star centre, and how can you win when you’re filling a crucial top-six position with someone who is simply not a top-six player? Holland needs to get some work done there before he can even consider not re-signing Nugent-Hopkins. He’ll be looking hard at the deadline.
But the problem on the left side extends to the blue line, where the Oilers have had a tremendous, breakout season from Darnell Nurse at the head of the lefty class. With Oscar Klefbom injured and out of the picture, the remaining left side D-men are Caleb Jones, Kris Russell and William Lagesson.
Can you beat Toronto or Winnipeg in the playoffs with a second-pairing defenceman from the crop we just listed? They’ve got Philip Broberg coming, and hopefully Klefbom coming back. But in the short term the Oilers are shy on the left side, up and down their lineup.
