Oilers Clinch, but What Happens if They Fall Short Again?

The Edmonton Oilers had a chance to lock in a playoff spot on the last day of March; despite not playing that evening, a Winnipeg Jets loss would have put the Oilers in the playoffs. However, the Jets (who are struggling to stay alive) had other plans. Even after the Nashville Predators won in blowout fashion on the following day, all Edmonton needed to clinch was one solitary point. That's it. The Oilers decided to go for the throat against the lowly, lowly Anaheim Ducks; blasting them 6-0 to become the second team to qualify for the playoffs, as well as the eighth team overall--halfway filling the playoff field for 2023.

Now, last year was quite the run for the Oilers. They had back-to-back years of playoff disappointments; in 2020, they were ousted in the bubble (on their own ice) by a dead Blackhawks team in the Qualifying Round. In 2021, the Oilers finished second in the all-Canadian North Division, yet were swept out of Round 1 by the aforementioned Jets. 2022 changed things, as the Oilers went on their longest run since falling one win short of the Stanley Cup in 2006. Edmonton went all the way to the Conference Finals, ousting the Los Angeles Kings and dominating the Calgary Flames to reach the Final Four, where they were swept by the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche. It seemed like things were improving in Edmonton, to a point where I, a staunch critic of the Oilers' failures to win something, stopped saying that the team's two biggest stars (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl) need to leave that team.

However, after what I have seen from the Oilers, I may have to get back on that horse.

Connor McDavid is scaring the shit out of the rest of the league right now. Just when I think he couldn't be any more superhuman, he does this. Last season, he had 123 points, which was his career high. This year, McDavid is obliterating that. McDavid is on his way to becoming the first player to rack up (at least) 150 points in a season since Mario Lemieux did so in the 1995-96 season (161 points). He is four points away from that total, and out of his 146 points, 62 of them are goals! McDavid is at a near 2 P/game run this season, and it is absolutely extraordinary. But that's not all, folks!

Leon Draisaitl could be on his way to surpassing the career high in goals that he set a season prior. In the 2021-22 season, Draisaitl scored 55 goals, surpassing his previous high of 50 from the 2018-19 season. In the playoff clinching victory over the Ducks, Draisaitl had a hat trick, putting him at 50 goals even; his third time reaching that number in a season. He has some time to surpass his career high from the previous season, but even so, imagine having 50+ goals, and that total is second on the team. What McDavid and Draisaitl are doing is just legendary, epic, and phenomenal, and will be told by hockey fans for years to come.

There's just one problem: in spite of the duo's efforts and the supposed depth, the Oilers suck.

For starters, Jack Campbell, the goalie they got from the Toronto Maple Leafs to fix that issue caused by the departing Mike Smith? He totally fizzled this season and became a hackeysack. The team as a whole is sputtering; they were even in the Wild Card standings as recently as late February, but they managed to squeak out of there in the last few weeks. Even so, this is not the same team from that long run in 2022. Yet if you ask Oilers fans, not only are they going to win the Cup this year, they should have won last year.

Here's a harsh reality for Oilers fans: Connor McDavid could end up with about 160 points, Leon Draisaitl could end up with nearly 60 goals, but in spite of this, the Oilers could be out in the first round, because too many teams in the West are better than them. The only reason why the Oilers managed to move up in the Pacific Division standings is because the Seattle Kraken slipped on a few banana peels, yet Seattle is still better than Edmonton this season. If/when that early exit happens, McDavid and Draisaitl will want out, because this will be eight years together with nothing of note to show for it when it counts. The Oilers are on the verge of wasting historic seasons from McDavid and Draisaitl. That is the harsh truth.

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