It’s time to raise the standard in Edmonton

This is exactly how this Oilers season deserved to end. We should have seen this one coming from miles away.

The Edmonton Oilers bowed out in the first round to the Anaheim Ducks in six games Thursday night. Puck luck favoured the Ducks last night, combined with a lack of urgency from the Oilers, and the better team won.

The injuries piled up quickly and early for Edmonton. It’s not an excuse. It’s reality. They weren’t at their peak, and it showed.

Perhaps once we hear more about the injuries that plagued the team, we will feel sympathy. Instead, today in Oil Country, while still understanding the circumstances, there’s anger, disappointment and uncertainty of what the future holds for Connor McDavid. 

His near future is in Edmonton. However, the noise from outside the market will be incredibly loud this summer. Maybe even louder than the last. It’d be nice if McDavid silenced those critics at his end-of-season media availability. 

Knoblauch gave us an indication of the extent of the injuries post-game.

“We got some guys with some fractures that were playing through things that were really difficult to play at their best, but I certainly love their effort and how they dug in. They were absolutely not going to pull themselves out of the lineup. I thought they contributed as much as they could.”

While that quote sticks out like a sore thumb, the most impact came from the captain: “An average team with high expectations”

And he’s right.

Their 41-41 record in the regular season would strongly agree with that statement. The only thing not average is their star power, which led the charge in the power play that carried them all season. 

So how do they peel away from average?

Everyone is getting evaluated because the Oilers underperformed on the ice from the get-go. Let’s not forget that the standard was set on opening night, when they blew a 3-1 lead to the Calgary Flames. The rollercoaster began there and didn’t stop until it made it to Disneyland. 

Jason Gregor stated on X that Katz will do a full evaluation of management, coaching, and the players in the next few weeks.

Stan Bowman is likely safe in Edmonton, but that doesn’t necessarily mean as the general manager. Could he become the next president of hockey operations? Bowman has done well at retooling the Oilers future while keeping the present in mind. Josh Samanski was a great find, along with Ty Emberson and Vasily Podkolzin. Bakersfield has real players the Oilers can pick from who can then contribute in the NHL. Plus, there’s still a good chance Maxim Berezkin makes his way to North America, which no other GM has been able to do.

Obviously, what’s most important is his decision to help Edmonton, and there have been some bad ones. The big swing for a goaltender was massive, and it arguably set the Oilers back. The signing of Trent Frederic, who didn’t play in the final two games of the playoffs, looks awful. We will set aside our judgment on the Jake Walman and Mattias Ekholm signings for now. Though it won’t be long before we learn the impact of those decisions. 

Of course, everything started with the decision not to match the Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg deals. Let’s not get into that again, though, but they still play a significant role in where Edmonton is heading. 

Jeff Jackson holds that position, preventing Bowman from gaining the “promotion”. But maybe he shouldn’t. We won’t revisit the Summer of Jeff, but its impact is still plaguing Edmonton. The contracts he gave out were ridiculous. The most baffling part is why he thought hiring himself as the interim GM was a good idea.

It felt arrogant, which is how most of this Jackson era has felt. The Knoblauch introduction press conference screamed it, too. Ken Holland sat there and answered all the questions for a decision he didn’t want to make. Meanwhile, Jackson sat back. 

If the organization wants to take a step forward, his job should be on the line too. However, the fear of losing McDavid likely lingers over that decision. After all, Jackson is McDavid’s former agent. 

As we move down the pecking order, Knoblauch is next on the chopping block. This past summer was the first time he had the opportunity to build his coaching staff. Paul Coffey and Glen Guletzen moved on, leaving his bench clear. He opted to go with inexperienced hiring, Paul McFarlane, who was coaching the WHL, and Mark Stuart, who had been with the team for a few years in a lesser role. It was going so poorly heading into the Olympic break that Leon Draisaitl called them out, and they decided to bring back Coffey. 

Edmonton struggled to put together a win streak, defence was an option most nights, and the penalty kill was horrendous all season. All of that bled into the playoffs, and that is on Knoblauch and his staff. While the Oilers may have been average, it’s on the coaches to get the best out of players. 

Trent Frederic and Andrew Mangiapane went from players who could score 14+ goals a season to healthy scratches/ Tristan Jarry came to Edmonton with a 0.909 save percentage in Pittsburgh and dropped to 0.858 in only 19 games with the Oilers. Let’s not forget that Arvidsson was a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup Final, too, and then scored 25 goals in Boston after being traded for a 4th-round pick.

So either the GM is making terrible decisions, or the coaching staff doesn’t have an interest in getting the best out of everyone. You can decide which path you want to walk down.

For now, Edmonton needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror and figure out where the problems are. The injuries in Round 1 were real, and sometimes you can’t overcome that. This team still played 82 underwhelming regular-season games, and that bled into the playoffs. Standards need to be elevated immediately; the end is near, and you know what that means. 

The window is not closed. If this really is “an average team with high expectations,” something has to change, and it isn’t the expectations. The summer will be long, but this is a new start for the Oilers. It’s time to start getting things right.