During the preseason, the NHL released its power rankings, a listing of the hypothesized top-16 teams in the league for the upcoming season. On this list, the Edmonton Oilers sat at No. 4, while the Florida Panthers owned the No. 6 spot.
Whether you place any stock in these rankings or the NHL analysts that vote on them, they nevertheless demonstrate a hockey-community-wide faith in the Stanley Cup finalists of last year. The expectations are set.
But oh, how the mighty have fallen. I can’t pretend I don’t take a little joy in seeing both powerhouse teams seemingly humbled in the standings and on the ice. The Oilers and Panthers have tumbled to the low end of the standings, occupying the No. 25 and No. 27 spots in the league, respectively.
In terms of power rankings, last week ESPN ranked the Oilers at the barely-passable position of No. 18. The Florida Panthers were shaken up, too, tanking to No. 24 on the list.
So, what happened?
If you ask Mark Spector, senior NHL columnist for Sportsnet, the Oilers gave up. When two Cale Makar shots within a minute of each other whistled past Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner Nov. 8, the team rolled over and died, letting up seven more goals in the game.
That day, the Colorado Avalanche routed the Oilers in a stunning 9-1 loss at Rogers Place. It was the latest in a line of consecutive losses for the Oilers, and their Saturday performance ties a franchise record for their worst home loss — a record set in 2009 during a 10-2 defeat to the Buffalo Sabres.
If you read my preseason preview, you’d know that I had some thoughts on the Edmonton Oilers’ goaltending situation. What once was a “situation” has now evolved into a full-blown problem.
Skinner and backup goaltender Calvin Pickard had a combined .727 save percentage against Colorado, but that was not enough to stop an avalanche of goals from their opponent.
The Oilers need to move on from Skinner as their starting goaltender. According to statistics from NHL Edge, he pales in comparison to his goalie contemporaries.
Skinner has shown he cannot compete at the NHL level, ranking below the 50th percentile in almost every performance category, such as high-danger save percentage, mid-range save percentage and games started with a save percentage of at least .900.
But it’s not like Edmonton is performing well offensively either. The team’s only goal of the night came from Connor McDavid, with less than nine minutes remaining in the second period.
This season, the Oilers’ shooting percentage is 10.8%, a success rate nearly equivalent to the NHL average.
Nov. 8 proved to be a turning-point day for the Panthers as well. Florida visited San Jose to play the Sharks and subsequently lost 3-1.
Unlike the Oilers, the Panthers have all of the pieces for success. They’re just not on the board right now.
The team has racked up an impressive list of injuries. Captain Aleksander Barkov is out for the season, while Matthew Tkachuk, Tomas Nosek and Dmitry Kulikov have been out since the early season with the expectation that they will return at some point this season. The latest addition to this group is Jonah Gadjovich, with an upper-body injury expected to keep him out until at least February.
With this many players out, it’s no surprise the team couldn’t get it done against the 7-6-3 San Jose Sharks.
Sending a staggering 39 shots toward the Sharks’ net, the Panthers generated scoring chances but came up mostly empty. The Panthers couldn’t capitalize on any of five power plays.
Boston University alum Macklin Celebrini kickstarted the Sharks’ game with a goal in the first, assisted by Boston College alum Will Smith. The momentum grew for San Jose, and the team added another goal soon after, turning the tide towards the Sharks and away from the floundering Panthers.
Three games into a West Coast road trip and worse for wear from it, the Panthers are scraping by as the injuries pile up, with one win and two losses. Throwing shots at the net is a worthwhile attempt to make up for the offensive finesse and badgering play they’re missing from Barkov and Tkachuk. But it’s not winning games.
There are only so many AHL callups that Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice can make before the team runs out of depth. It’s a question of how long the Panthers can hold on. Can they claw their way back to the top? Or are they doomed to wade near the bottom of the standings with a less-than-optimal roster?
We’re only about a fifth of the way through the season, so don’t leave these teams out of your Stanley Cup brackets just yet.
It’s a long way to the top, but both of these teams know how it feels to be underdogs.