If you haven’t heard it a million times already, throughout the history of the Edmonton Oilers they’ve lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup five times and each of those times they’ve faced the Winnipeg Jets prior to their arrival in the Cup final.
- 1984: Edmonton sweeps Winnipeg three games to none.
- 1985: Edmonton sweeps Winnipeg four games to none.
- 1987: Edmonton sweeps Winnipeg four games to none.
- 1988: Edmonton defeats Winnipeg four games to one.
- 1990: Edmonton defeats Winnipeg four games to three.
Thirty-one years later, here we are again… Personally, I think it would be near unbelievable if a series victory over the Jets resulted in a Stanley Cup for the Oilers but you can’t help but look back at the history between the two clubs and feel a tad giddy about what it could mean if Edmonton were to make it to round two of the 2021 NHL Playoffs.
#Operation16W Baby! Here we go!
Season Series Review
Mark Scheifele and the Winnipeg Jets were no match for Connor McDavid’s Oilers this year. The two teams met nine times and Edmonton took seven of those outright.
Six Oilers produced at a point-per-game pace (McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse, Barrie, RNH, Patrick Russell) and Mike Smith went undefeated with a 4-0-0 record and a 2.06 GAA as well as a .936 save percentage.
Nik Ehlers was Winnipeg’s only point-per-game player with 8pts in seven games. Shockingly, Scheifele and captain Blake Wheeler went a combined -26 in the series and their all-star goalie Connor Hellebuyck sported a 3.96 GAA and a .877 save percentage…
Team Comparisons
Forwards: I don’t buy that Winnipeg has better forward depth that Edmonton and to illustrate that let’s look at each team’s 5th line. The players who are on the outside looking in until somebody has a bad game or gets hurt.
EDM: Ennis-Haas-Kassian
WPG: Copp-Dano-Vesalainen
Kassian should be back in time and I assume that we’ll see Andrew Copp at some point as well as he’s listed day-to-day on capfriendly.com.
So, if you’re the GM and of either of those teams and your regular 4th line somehow goes down and can’t play, which group are you taking? As good as Copp is, I’m still taking Edmonton’s. On the whole, it’s better and more trustworthy.
Now, that might seem like a silly exercise but it truly lets us know who’s got the deeper forward group, doesn’t it?
What would change things is if Copp and Ehlers come back and can perform at an above average rate. That would give Winnipeg three solid forward lines whereas Edmonton is still a bit top heavy as the majority of its power comes from the top-six.
But we can’t go by ‘ifs and buts’ and the Mega Powers of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are so much better than everybody else on each roster. So I’m saying Edmonton has the better forward group.
Defense: The Oilers depth on defense is as deep as it’s been in a long time. The addition of Dmitry Kulikov has given Edmonton’s coaching staff the opportunity to slot players in where they should be. There’s not one player on their defence that is playing above their ability.
In addition to that, Edmonton has the highest scoring defenseman in the league on its team (Tyson Barrie) and the best blueliner in the North Division who just happens to have finished the year with the most even strength goals (15) for a dman (Darnell Nurse).
Edmonton’s third pair… Sneaky good puck movers. Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear have developed an excellent partnership over the years and it’s blossoming in the Alberta capital as we speak.
The Jets’ defense has been trending down for a few years now. Where at one time they had one of the league’s best d-cores with the likes of Dustin Byfuglien, Tyler Myers, Jacob Trouba, and Josh Morrissey, now they’re left with Morrissey and Neil Pionk.
This category goes to the Oilers.
Goaltending: Easy. Edmonton.
Mike Smith destroyed Hellebuyck this year head-to-head and I can’t say for sure that that will continue but my gut feeling is that Smith’s in a good place mentally and it would probably take an injury to throw him off (knocks on wood).
Special Teams: This goes to the Oilers for having the BEST power play in the NHL again and the 9th best penalty kill. Winnipeg wasn’t far off though, they ranked 7th in the NHL with the man advantage and 13th overall on the kill.
Gamebreakers: There are six players in this series that could blow things wide open one way or another for their team if they were to catch fire or go ice cold.
- Connor McDavid
- Leon Draisaitl
- Mike Smith
- Nik Ehlers
- Connor Hellebuck
- Mark Scheifele
Wildcards: I’m going to pick Jesse Puljujarvi for the Oilers and Pierre-Luc Dubois for the Jets.
Pulju was really heating up as the season came to a close. I think he had 9pts in his final 11 games. You could see that he was learning to find the soft ice for Connor or Leon and getting those opportunities to show us that wicked shot of his and conversely, where at times in the past Draisaitl or McDavid could’ve passed to Jesse but didn’t trust him to get the shot off or make the right play, that’s gone now. Trust has been built and Puljujarvi, our Finnish Lion, is good to go.
PLD is due for a bounce back. He’s been facing resistance all season and with his style of play, he’s the kind of player that could take over a series. He’s massive and he loves those playoff-like environments. If he’s healthy or healthy enough, he could cause the Oilers a spot of bother… I can only imagine him on a line with Wheeler and Scheifele and how potentially devestating that could be.
Physicality: Edmonton finished the season with the fifth most hits (1420) in the league and that was without Zack Kassian and Jujhar Khaira for significant periods of time. Winnipeg ranked 12th overall but they were also ravaged with injuries to some key bangers.
Both teams have a player or two on each line that can provide energy with their hitting prowess but once again we go back to the Jets going into this series unhealthy. How many hits are they going to be laying out after the first period of game one when the adrenaline has worn off or the checks haven’t slowed Edmonton down any?
I’m actually a little worried that the two guys who were prominent hitters for their clubs this year could be lost for the playoffs from a hit. I’m talking about Jujhar Khaira and Adam Lowry. Both were hurt this year as a result of head injuries and both are going to be counted on to provide that post-season heavy hockey everybody expects… Copp and Kassian are a couple more in this category…
So once again, but a much closer result, Edmonton wins this category.
Prediction: For the Oilers not to end up like they did last year in the bubble, they’re going to have to get scoring from those who aren’t former 1st overall picks or Hart trophy winners. Depth scoring has to show up in a big big way because you know for certain that Paul Maurice is going to be targeting 97 and 29 in an attempt to slow them down and by the looks of the standard of officiating that has taken place so far, Winnipeg is going to be able to get away with a shit ton of garbage…
Regardless, I like the Oilers in four here. Winnipeg is going into this series pretty banged up, Edmonton has feasted on the Jets no.1 goalie all year, and the Oilers have only been one of the best teams in the entire league since game 10 of the year.
Plus Edmonton has the one player that can win a series all by himself…
