Power Play Success Or Bust

So here we are. Mere hours away from the start of another Edmonton Oilers season and hockey fans across Oilers Nation can barely contain themselves. While winning games during the 2015-16 campaign will still prove to be a challenge for this group, the addition of Connor McDavid has allowed the masses to focus on the future with renewed optimism. 

Oilers Power Play Continues To Be A Complete Head Scratcher

The Edmonton Oilers saw their two game pre-season win streak come to an end on Thursday evening, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks over at Rexall Place.  While it may be a little early to press the panic button, the fact remains this team has now gone one for twenty-nine on the man advantage and given up shorthanded goals in back-to-back games and that is something which simply cannot be ignored.

It's not working Dallas!!!

Of all the things that have gone wrong with the Edmonton Oilers 2013-14 campaign, the one problem that stands out above the rest has been the ineffectiveness of this club’s power play. After years of struggling to produce on the man advantage, the coaching duo of Ralph Krueger and Tom Renney combined to come up with something that actually worked over the previous two National Hockey League seasons.

Power play outage

Expecting the Edmonton Oilers, as they are currently structured, to no be regularly dominated by teams who play a skilled but physical brand of hockey, is nothing more than wishful thinking. With that said, none of us should be overly surprised to see the Philadelphia Flyers walk into Rexall Place and pretty much do whatever they wanted in beating the Oilers 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday night.

RNH remains the key to the Oilers power play

Prior to the start of the 2011-12 campaign, the Edmonton Oilers had gone five consecutive seasons with what was essentially a bottom third National Hockey League power play. Not surprisingly, that all changed with the arrival of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Edmonton put together the league's third best power play during the former first overall pick's rookie campaign and followed that up with an eighth place finish in 2013.

Frolik would be a nice addition to the Oilers top nine

Michael Frolik has always intrigued me as a player. Ever since being drafted tenth overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers, the talented Czech has always been a player I have kept my eye on. After putting up back-to-back twenty-one goal campaigns in his rookie and sophomore seasons, it looked as though he was well on his way to becoming a legitimate top six NHL forward.

Time for Teemu Hartikainen to prove his worth

Teemu Hartikainen is on the verge of completing his third year of professional hockey in North America. He has steadily improved his all around game but has yet to leave any sort of mark, when given the chance to suit up for the Edmonton Oilers.

Time for the Oilers to reunite the kids on the power play

Ralph Krueger's decision to separate what was formerly his top line of Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has proved to be an effective tool in kick starting the Edmonton Oilers offence at even strength. Some had wondered, myself included, why the move had not been made earlier but in hindsight, that answer is obvious, no Shawn Horcoff.

Oilers Player Preview: Eberle on the verge of becoming NHL's next elite sniper

Following what was a superb sophomore campaign from Edmonton Oilers forward Jordan Eberle, some were wondering if the twenty-two year old had perhaps hit his peak, with his thirty-four goal, seventy-six point campaign during the 2011-2012 season.

Power Play Shuffle

You may find it odd that you are about to read a piece on the Oilers power play and that Eric Belanger is pictured above it. The fact that Belanger and Oilers power play, are even mentioned in the same breath is very troubling to me. Unfortunately, this coaching staff believes that the struggling centre needs to be part of the mix, when Edmonton is up a man. With Taylor Hall out of action for the foreseeable future, the success of the power play will become that much more import, in determining how the Oilers will do without the former first overall selection in their lineup.

Is Cam Barker a Top Four Defenceman?

The Edmonton Oilers decided to take a flyer on a former third overall draft pick this summer and signed Cam Barker to a one year contract. The Oilers are hoping they have found that young defenceman who can play top four minutes and quarterback their power play. Barker is hoping he has found a new home where he will be given the opportunity to get his NHL career back on track. I can not see this signing taking place, from either side, unless the mindset is for the 25 year old rearguard to slot in the clubs top two pairings. Barker is coming off an awful season in which he registered only 5 points while playing in 52 games for the Minnesota Wild. To make matters even worse, he missed 25 games due to injury and was a healthy scratch on five occasions. Not exactly a stellar season from the Manitoba native but lets not forget that the Wild bought him out this off season. In their minds, it made more since to cut ties then to try and work with him to find his game.

The Power Play

The Edmonton Oilers have not had a decent power play for so long that I can’t even remember when this wasn't the case. After some quick stat diving, I found that back in 1997-98 the Oilers ended the season ranked 12^th in the league at 15.9%. Doesn’t seem like a lethal PP but when you consider that the Dallas Stars led the league at 20.0%, it shows it wasn't too bad at all and how much the game has changed. Outside of the 1997-98 campaign the only other time they finished in the top 15 was the 2005-06 season at 18.1%. That was good enough for 14^th spot and not surprisingly that was the last time the club made the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Below are Edmonton’s power play ranking and success ratio since the 2005-06 season:
2010-2011 – 27^th (14.5%)
2009-2010 – 18^th (17.3%)
2008-2009 – 22^nd (17.0%)
2007-2008 – 20^th (16.6%)
2006-2007 – 27^th (14.2%)