Edmonton Oilers Talk: Brian Lawton On the Oilers’ Chances in 2020-21

On the Dec.30th, 2020 edition of Oilers Now, former Tampa Bay Lightning GM Brian Lawton was on Oilers Now (630CHED) and he was asked this question by host Bob Stauffer,

“If the Oilers do that (improve their 5×5 play), can they compete for the top spot in the Canadian Division?”

Lawton replied,

“They can. They absolutely can.”

Ok great! Thanks for reading.

JUST KIDDING!

The former 1st overall draft pick and MEGA-agent went on to tell a story about a conversation he had with Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon recently.

“We were talking about some of the inefficiencies in the league. I mean, Edmonton has two of the very best players in the league. They should be at the top and yet, it’s not that easy. The rest of the players do matter and so signings like Slater Koekkoek do matter.

But when it’s all said and done, I do see Edmonton finishing in the top-three of their division.”

The question Stauffer laid out for him was prefaced with Bob talking about the Oilers signing Slater Koekkoek to a one-year deal this week and also getting Devin Shore in on a professional tryout deal.

So, has GM Ken Holland repaired the inefficiencies in his lineup with the additions of Dominik Kahun, Kyle Turris, Tyler Ennis, Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyson Barrie, Koekkoek, Shore, etc?

By my eye, it appears that he’s possibly done that.

If the goal is to become a more competitive 5×5 team offensively, then I have little doubt that the Oilers will be more dangerous throughout the lineup this season. But scoring goals has never been much of an issue, a 5v5 goal means the same as one on the powerplay as well as the penalty kill.

Edmonton’s problem has been stopping them from going into their own net and that begs the question, did Holland do enough to shore up the Oilers’ defence?

Maybe.

Without going into all of the numbers and just looking at the cover of this book, if we compare last season’s opening night lineup to a projected version of this year’s maybe we can get a clearer idea.

Sweet Jesus… That is one helluva roster overhaul.

I will say this, I think due to my consistent diet of Rock Em Sock Em movies throughout my youth, I prefer my rosters to have a very physical and hard-working bottom-six, but I’m willing to be flexible with that preference this year. It hasn’t really worked in the recent past for the Oilers and I’m very curious how the roster that’s been built for this season will do.

What I notice is a better group of forwards in this year’s squad and I know that the theory is that if you’ve got the puck more than the other team, it’s hard for them to score, I just don’t know if that’ll hold up here. Don’t get me wrong, it very well could be the case because there are a lot of very talented skaters there. I just feel that looking at those 12 players up front that none of them jump out to me as excellent defensive forwards. Nuge and Pulju would be my picks.

Moving to the defense, we know that by the fancies Darnell Nurse is an excellent contributor 5×5 offensively (as long as he’s on the ice with you know who) and we know that Jones has the potential to be the team’s best two-way defender. Russell blocks a lot of shots, Barrie scores a lot of points, Larsson turns opposing forwards into pulp, and Bear holds it all together.

That’s nice, but who will take on the responsibility of being an excellent defensive defender? It might be newly-signed Slater Koekkoek or, if the hockey gods turn a blind eye to this team, Jones and Bear won’t be hit by the sophomore slump and will continue to develop into quality blueliners. Darnell should be this club’s best shutdown d-man by now and by my eye, he’s yet to hit my expectations. I hope this year he transitions.

Coming full circle, did the Oilers address their inefficiencies?

I want to say yes, but it’s unclear in my mind. Oscar Klefbom’s absence and how the team copes with that is how my answer will be determined and it’s a short season, so anything can happen.

What say you?

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