Colorado Avalanche defenceman Devon Toews (7) chases Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) during second period NHL action in Edmonton on Saturday, April 9, 2022.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
It has been a season to remember – and forget – and remember again for the Edmonton Oilers. At different junctures they have been the best and worst team in the National Hockey League.
Injuries? They have had a few. COVID-19? They had an outbreak that lasted six weeks. During one dreadful stretch their head coach called out their goalie. Not too long after that their head coach was fired.
In the middle of it all they took a flier on Evander Kane, a gifted player but one with a troubled past. In a little more than six months they generated as much drama as an episode of The Bachelorette.
“It has definitely been a strange year,” Connor McDavid says. “We had a long string of really unfortunate events.”
And yet here the Oilers are, a hair’s breadth from clinching a playoff position along with home-ice advantage for at least one round.
“We’ve been up and down but we have worked our way back,” Edmonton’s captain says. “We’ve had to play for our lives.”
With one week left in the regular season McDavid is where it has become customary for him – at the top of the points standings albeit tied with Jonathan Huberdeau of the surging Florida Panthers.
In 76 games, McDavid has scored a career-high 43 goals and is just three points shy of a career-best 116 points.
While Auston Matthews and Huberdeau will clearly receive many votes for most valuable player, the two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner remains a threat to do it again.
It is the road that he and the Oilers have taken to this point that has made for an improbable journey.
Edmonton won 16 of its first 21 games – and then lost 13 of its next 15. It quickly fell from first in the NHL to six points out of a playoff position and seemingly had no answers.
“I have been on a team that wasn’t very good but wasn’t expected to be,” McDavid says. “We knew what to expect. Probably this was emotionally more difficult. We had a great start and then went into a slide and it was really upsetting.
“Some days were harder than others, but we did good job to get out of it.”
Edmonton entered a meeting against Colorado on Friday night on a 15-3-2 run and second in the Pacific Division behind Calgary. As well as the Flames have played all year, it is possible that the standings would be no different even if the Oilers hadn’t engaged in their very own game of Chutes and Ladders.
They have played most of the season without No. 1 goalie Mike Smith. That caused Mikko Koskinen, who is a serviceable backup, to be overworked and that contributed greatly to the slump.
Injuries strafed the defensive corps to an extent where 11 different defenceman were employed over 10 games. Koskinen struggled especially then. During that 2-13-2 stretch he allowed the opponent to score first on 14 occasions.
And so many players were stricken with COVID-19 – and for so long – that it seemed it would never end.
“Just as guys started to come back, others would go out,” McDavid says.
With the club flailing along at 22-18-3 and in fifth place in the division, Dave Tippett was replaced behind the bench by Jay Woodcroft, the coach of the Oilers’ American Hockey League affiliate, on Feb. 10.
“Of course you never want to see a coach fired, especially someone you like so much,” McDavid says. “But by then things had reached a point of no return. Something had to give.”
Since the coaching change, Edmonton has gone 23-8-3 and has won 11 of its past 12 games at Rogers Place.
“They have come in and done great,” McDavid says of Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson. “I can’t say enough about them.”
A number of things have led to the resurgence. Kane has been terrific with 17 goals and 15 assists in 38 games.
Smith has returned from injuries and has now won eight of his past nine starts and seven in a row. During his past six games, the 40-year-old has allowed only a half-dozen goals and stopped 97 per cent of the shots he has faced.
Leon Draisaitl has been as superb as ever with 54 goals and 106 points. Signed as a free agent, the former Maple Leaf Zach Hyman has scored a career-high 25 times. Veteran defenceman Duncan Keith has added depth to a blue line led by Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci. Promising young forwards like Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi have made huge strides.
It certainly has been an uphill climb but somehow Edmonton has gotten it done.
“I’ve been in the game a long time,” Ken Holland, the Oilers general manager, said. “This has been a roller-coaster ride and it’s not something I want to relive again.
“We were first overall in the league over the first 16 games and dead last over the next 15. There was no middle ground.
“The start got our hopes up and then the roof caved in.”
Holland is in his third year as the GM. The Oilers were 28th in the league when he took over and had missed the playoffs in the preceding two campaigns.
Now this will be third time in a row that they have reached the postseason.
“Through it all we developed something,” Holland says. He was the general manager in Detroit when the Red Wings won Stanley Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2008.
“When we won in 2008 we had a stretch where we lost 10 of 11. The down times either break you or you grow.”
There is no mistaking the guy who drives the team. McDavid is still just 25 and already has the fourth-highest points-per-game average in NHL history after Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy. In six seasons, he has only won one playoff series. Perhaps this time will be different.
“It’s like we have been playing playoff hockey for a while now,” McDavid says. “We were out of the race and had to scratch and claw and get our way back in.
“I think the guys are confident. Up and down the lineup guys feel good about their own game and about our team. A lot of good things are happening.”