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Breaking down the Edmonton Oilers defensive resurgence

Originally posted on The Oil Rig | By Erling Lefsrud | Last updated Apr 9, 2026 1:41 PM ET

One of the biggest knocks against the Edmonton Oilers, particularly in the last five years while they have been in direct contention for the Stanley Cup, is that their defence leaves a whole lot to be desired. I would be the first to agree that it could be a lot better.

However if you look at the time since the Olympic break, you will see a marked change in some of the numbers that the Oilers D-core is putting up.

The resurgence of defence

The Oilers are still in a tough spot so far as goals against goes, they currently sit 27th in the league with 3.33 GA per game. Fortunately, they sit fifth in the league in GF/GP with 3.46 and so they are still able to outscore their opponents.

Here are some of their underlying stats before and after the Olympic break:

	Corsi Against (NHL RANK)	Shots Against	Goals Against	Expected Goals Against	Scoring Chances Against	High Danger Scoring Chances Against
Before Olympic Break	55.67 (11th)	25.32 (9th)	2.78 (24th)	2.72 (22nd)	28.72 (26th)	11.52 (15th)
After Break	57.19 (16th)	25.16 (9th)	3.01 (27th)	2.45 (8th)	25.83 (14th)	10.11 (4th)

In Corsi Against, Shots Against, and Goals Against the team has been the same or worse since the Olympic break. On the other hand, in expected goals against, scoring chances against, and high-danger chances against the team has improved significantly.

Without having checked every other teams stats, I’d be willing to bet no other team has improved that much in any one stat this season, except maybe the Buffalo Sabres.

These stats tell the story of a team that maybe isn’t controlling the flow of the game any better than before the Olympic break, but is severely limiting the high quality chances against. Unfortunately, it hasn’t translated into an improvement in goals against, which is what truly matters in the end.

Even though I am a huge fan of Connor Ingram, moving on from Stuart Skinner hasn’t significantly improved the goaltending situation. If I’m Stan Bowman I’m going out to find a bona fide #1 goalie this offseason. I have absolutely no idea how he’s going to do it but that’s the first priority, almost the only priority.

Instead of focusing on the negatives though, it’s time to appreciate the team for what they have accomplished. Right now that’s playing some solid defence. It’s hard to say what may have precipitated this change, whether it’s a fully healthy D-core, the help of Connor Murphy, whose calm game I have been impressed with, or as Kris Knoblauch says, just out of pure necessity to make the playoffs. Whatever the reason, it’s good to see them succeed.