April 17, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

Last spring was about emerging for the Edmonton Oilers. They won their first playoff series since 2016-17 and just their second since 2006 when they beat the Los Angeles Kings in a game seven at Rogers Place. Then they extinguished the Calgary Flames in five games to advance to the Western Conference Finals. They emerged as contenders last spring after several years of mediocrity following a decade of futility.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been tearing up the league in the regular season for a while now, but they emphatically showed the world that they can do it in the playoffs too. McDavid led the league in playoff scoring with an astonishing 33 points in just sixteen games. Draisaitl finished a point behind McDavid, but Draisaitl did it on one ankle in the last ten games and two periods of their run.

Their performances this season have shown the world that they mean business. They weren’t happy about not winning it all last season, and they took their frustration out on the league this season. McDavid scored 64 goals, which was one shy of Alex Ovechkin’s high mark for goals in a season in the salary cap era. He also got 153 points, which was two shy of tying Steve Yzerman’s 155 points from 1988-89. That was the highest point total amassed in a season by anyone not named Wayne or Mario. Meanwhile, Draisaitl surpassed the 50-goal mark for the third time in his career, and he tied Nikita Kucherov’s 128-point season, which now represents the second highest point total in the salary cap era behind McDavid’s 153 from this season.

They weren’t the only ones shattering career-highs in Edmonton this year. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ended up at 104 points, which surpassed his previous best total of 69 points by 35. Zach Hyman improved upon his career-high by 29 points, going from 54 points last year to 83 points this year. It’s a formidable fab four in Edmonton.

That group led the way on the Oilers’ historically great powerplay. They set an NHL record for the highest powerplay percentage of all-time at 32.4%. The Toronto Maple Leafs had the next best powerplay at 26%.

The performances by the Oilers’s top offensive producers shows that they want more. They want more points, they want more wins, and  they want more success this spring.

The team figured out how to lock it down defensively after Christmas. They got even better in that area once Mattias Ekholm arrived. The Oilers have only lost in regulation twice since Ekholm made his Oilers debut on March 1. They haven’t lost in regulation since March 11, which is a span of fifteen games. That stretch only contains one loss of any kind, a 4-3 overtime defeat at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers haven’t allowed more than two goals in a game in their last seven outings. That stretch featured four games against weak opponents, but also two games against their first round opponent and one against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

These Oilers don’t get pushed around anymore either. Ken Holland added a bunch of size this season. It started with a seemingly innocuous prospect trade of Dmitri Samorukov for Klim Kostin. Kostin has brought a nice mix of size, physicality, fighting, and scoring. Then they recalled Vincent Desharnais, aka “the Seaweed Man”, who has been rock solid on the third pairing. Finally, they added Ekholm and Nick Bjugstad at the trade deadline.

Related: Can the Edmonton Oilers take the next step? Lessons from the dynasty years, Part One

Oh yeah, they have Evander Kane too. His frightening injury caused him to miss a lot of time this year, but his impact is felt on the scoresheet and in the fight.

While we’re talking about emergence, I can’t forget about Stuart Skinner. The Edmonton product emerged as a legitimate starting goaltender in the NHL this season with his first All-Star game appearance and by breaking Grant Fuhr’s record for wins by a rookie Oilers goaltender. Skinner stabilized the goaltending situation for the Oilers this year, and he’s going to get the chance to show everyone just how good he is this spring.

It was an amazing regular season for the Oilers. They emerged as contenders last spring, but they proved that they belong with the elite teams in this league with their performance during this regular season. The Oilers are out for blood. They’re past trying to emerge as contenders. Their focus is emerging as champions.

It starts tonight with game one against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place. It’s a rematch of last year’s first round that’s expected to be a fierce battle in a budding rivalry. Buckle up, Oilers fans!