What the hell is with the Oilers?
1) lack of depth. Defense was pretty good, goaltending was good this year, but after McDavid and Draisaitl the forward corps is not very good. Jesse Puljujarvi has lots of promise, and RNH is a solid player, but overall aside from those four the forward corps is no better than replacement level. ("Replacement level" = you could go out on the free agent market and hire a player as good or better for the same money.) This is something Ken Holland has been working on since he was hired. I think he is doing a good job. As he gets out from under some bad contracts, I think this will continue to improve.
2) Not good with adversity. We saw it last year against the Blackhawks. We saw it this season in early March when the Leafs completely dominated them in that 3-game series. We saw it again this series. They seem to panic or get frustrated when the going gets tough.
3) the referees don't call penalties during the playoffs. A big part of the Oilers' regular season success was having an awesome powerplay. With no powerplays, it eliminates that part of the Oilers' success.
4) the referees don't call penalties during the playoffs. A big part of the Oilers' regular season success was having an awesome powerplay. With no powerplays, it eliminates that part of the Oilers' success.
5) the referees don't call penalties during the playoffs. McDavid didn't draw a single penalty during this playoff series. All the obstruction and grabbing that was used against McDavid and not a single penalty was called, it makes having a superstar forward pretty pointless. Seeing Jets globbed all over Draisaitl like a bunch of human lampreys attached to a whale-shark and the refs say "that's PLAYOFF HOCKEY!^tm" is basically NHL standard practice, but it's still bullshit. Letting superstar players be neutralized by low-skill players playing octopus style hockey has been going on for longer than I have been alive, but it's still crap.
6) lack of experience. I feel like they need to bring in some veterans and some "heart and soul" players. Thinking back to 2006, Chris Pronger didn't just provide the Oilers a superstar presence on the ice, he also provided an in-person culture transfusion off the ice. The Oilers' trainer at the time said that when Pronger got there, suddenly everybody was in the gym all the time, because Chris was in the gym all the time. They were doing it because Chris was doing it. That kind of thing. Chris was having dinner nights out and dinners at his place and and stuff like that and everybody wanted to be involved because that's what Chris was doing. I can only imagine how the Oilers' history might have been different if Chris Pronger hadn't asked for a trade after the 2006 season. For a non-Oilers' example, consider the Dallas Stars "Grumpy Old Men" line that helped them win the Stanley Cup. The "Grumpy Old Men" were Kirk Muller and a couple of other guys I can't remember who had between them hundreds of games of playoff experience and numerous Stanley Cup rings, and even though they were well past their prime by the time the Stars brought them in, they were still able to provide something that the younger players on the Stars could feed off and learn from. On the 2021 Oilers, I don't see anybody comparable, aside from maybe goalie Mike Smith who was everything they could have asked for at age 40.
6a) my ass was on national TV during the 2006 Stanley Cup finals. CBC had on location live TV at the bar I was working at. The front half of me, as far as I know, never made it to air, but my friends told me that the back half of me did, and I am sure that for a brief moment in time Canadians from coast to coast to coast were thinking in unison, "that is thicc, yo."
7) lots of teams flop during the playoffs, but having McDavid on our team brings extra scrutiny to this flop.
the Jets deserve some respect. They have more playoff experience than the Oilers. They played very well. They have an excellent coach, Paul Maurice. They were in 2nd place for most of the season, and the Oilers only passed them because the Jets had a late-season slump during which some key players (especially Nik Ehlers) were out of the lineup. The Jets are a good hockey team.
9) overall this is still a work in progress. Ken Holland inherited a mess. He has made a lot of progress. I think the Oilers' organization is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was under Chiarelli, but there is still a lot to do. Right now being dependent on a 41 year old goalie is a worry. Being dependent on a forwards corps of McJesus, Dr Drai, RNH, and 12 guys named Mo is a worry. I feel like this season's success was partly a mirage created by a combination of an epic powerplay, the all-Canadian division, fortuitous scheduling (ie, we played most of our games against Ottawa before Ottawa started finding themselves), and the abbreviated season.
-k