NBC’s “Our Line Starts” crew of NHL pundits that includes former NHLers Patrick Sharp and Keith Jones as well as Liam McHugh recently debated whether or not the Edmonton Oilers were a playoff team in 2020-21. The vlog can be found below.
Keith Jones
“I’d give it to Calgary and Vancouver (the final playoff spot in the North Division) before I give it to Edmonton. They’re just not good enough. They’ve got two superstars but they’ve got nothing around them and I mean, it’s really thin. Even in goal and on the back-end and they do not have the depth. Dave Tippett is a great coach and his teams are all about work ehtic. His team’s got guys that will work but they don’t have the talent around two superstar players and it’s disappointing because I think we all love watching McDavid and Draisaitl play, but to say that Edmonton is going to make the playoffs? I’d be stretching it, I’d be surprised if they do.”
Patrick Sharp
“It’s a long season, who knows what happens? Those guys (McDavid and Draisaitl) can fill the net in Edmonton and if that’s what gets them into the playoffs then that’s the reason they get in. I would tend to lean, at this point in the first couple weeks of the season, to the Calgary Flames being a better hockey club than the Edmonton Oilers are.”
Liam McHugh (Host)
“They’re thin. You have two different MVPs in their prime and you’ve got multiple teams in there (a playoff spot) before them… It doesn’t look good for Edmonton.
BLH’s Thoughts: I think it’s easy to read these comments after such a big win and get enraged, but Jones does have a decent point. Beyond RNH, Kailer Yamamoto, and MAYBE James Neal, the Oilers’ scoring depth on forward is underachieving massively. The defense is hit and miss with Darnell Nurse, Ethan Bear, and most recently Tyson Barrie stepping up. The rest of the d-men haven’t exactly knocked it out of the park and then when you look at the goaltending, you’ve got two netminders with save percentages under .900 and the hopes of the club’s netminding are being placed firmly at the feet of a near-40-year-old goalie who has yet to play a game since the play-ins Ended last summer.
This team consistently allows 30 or more shots on net and seems to need more than four goals a night to win… That doesn’t sound like a playoff team to me, but lucky for them, the teams they’re competing against for third and fourth in the North Division are in the same boat… Calgary, Winnipeg, and Vancouver are showing the same inconsistencies as Edmonton is except they don’t have two superstar MVPs in their lineup to shift the balance.
Let’s be honest, most teams are only as good as their best players, right? So what’s wrong with having Leon and Connor carry this team to the playoffs?
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
Contextual disclaimer: The vlog above was published before Edmonton’s most recent back-to-back victories against Toronto and Ottawa.
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